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APPLICATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET 



ALL THE ORIENTAL LANGUAGES; 



com unt.d 



A SERIES OF PAPERS 



V^RITTEN BY 



W cJUjUo^iU^vi-^t^') 



MESSRS. TREVELYAN, J PRINSEP. AND TYTLER, REV, A. DUFF, 
AND >!R. H T PRINSEP, 



PUBLISHED IN VARIOUS CALCUTTA PERIODICALS IN 
THE YEAR 183 I, 



FROM THE SERAMPORE PRESS. 

1834. 



T' 7 



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,T1 






n 



SELECT PAPERS, 



To the President, Vice Presidents, and Committee of the 
Calcutta School Book Society. 

Dear Gentlemen, 

I have the pleasure to submit to your notice an English and 
Oordoo Dictionary, prepared by Mr. Thompson of Delhi at the 
request of Mr. Trevelyan, who from acquaintance with his talents 
considered him well capable of executing such a work. It is de- 
signed to assist natives in'the Upper Provinces in the acquisition 
of English, and Europeans in the study of Oordoo. It was ex- 
pected that the work, if approved, would be printed at the ex- 
pense of the Society, and as usual 150 copies allowed to the au- 
thor as a remuneration for his labour ; but from a private letter of 
Mr. Thompson's it appears that 1,000 Hupees is the least he 
would expect if the Society accept the work, and that he thinks 
he could realize considerably more than this by printing it himself. 
Under this view of the case, Mr. Trevelyan and myself think it 
would be best for the Society to subscribe for 200 copies, and let 
Mr. T. print for himself. It seems, however, desirable that this 
subscription for two hundred copies should be made on the express 
condition that, while the Society consent to Mr. Thompson's 
receiving the benefit of any edition he may print, he shall allow 
them to print for themselves if they deem it necessary. Past 
experience has proved that it is not an eligible plan to employ the 
resources of the Society in the patronizing of works over which they 

A 



can have no control, and after the adoption of which into their de- 
pository list they cannot pledge themselves for a regular supply. 
It is better not to adopt, than after having adopted, to be obliged 
to discard. Should the book be generally approved, and should 
Mr. T. be willing to submit to these conditions, then I suppose 
he may be left at liberty to print it where he pleases, stipulating 
only that it shall be on good English paper, in cloth covers, and 
not exceeding four Rupees a copy. 
I remain, 

Dear Gentlemen, 

Yours very sincerely, 
(Signed) W. YATES, Secretary. 
Calcutta School Book Society's Depository,'} 
20th November, 1833. $ 



Mr. Thompson's work will doubtless find a ready sale among 
Europeans, but I trust that none of our colleges has it in contem- 
plation to teach Arabic, Persian, or Hindee words in Roman 
characters. This would indeed be ultra radicalism, and I cannot 
therefore vote for any sanction being given by the School Book 
Society, even in receiving a dedication from the author, unless the 
words " for the use of European students" be inserted in the title 
page. Besides, before giving countenance to such an important 
work as a Dictionary, we should have a report on its execution 
from some competent person. 

(Signed) J. P. 



We shall compromise our character very much, particularly 
with European scholars, in whose eyes the Oriental literature of 
Calcutta does not, I fear, stand very high at present, if we go 
back to the old system of printing Oriental books in Roman cha- 



3 

racters. This is indeed " to mistake the infancy of science for its 
maturity," and I cannot give my vote for doing so. I am aware 
that a School Book Society is not to publish books of too high an 
order, but the present appears to me even below our general run 
of publications, and I am at a loss to see for what class of pupils 
it can be intended, as it appears ill calculated for any. It is a 
mere naked vocabulary destitute of every principal of scientific 
philology in which the words are thrown together in a heap, and 
full of mistranslations and misapprehensions. A hundred instances 
might be picked out in a few minutes. In this state it can only 
serve to puzzle beginners, and will certainly be thrown aside by 
those who have made the least advance. I think on the whole 
that the encouragement of such works is a mere waste of funds and 
therefore vote against it. 

(Signed) J. TYTLER. 



I owe an apology to the Committee for having suffered a pro- 
position with which my name was connected to be submitted for 
their decision unaccompanied by any explanation on my part, for 
I am convinced that if this precaution had been taken, the objec- 
tions which have been brought forward to Mr. Thompson's work 
would have been obviated, and the scope and motives of it would 
have appeared to the members of the Committee in a clearer point 
of view than has actually been the case. It will now be my 
endeavour to supply the deficiency as far as it can be done at this 
late period of the discussion, and I am encouraged to adopt this 
course by observing that several gentlemen for whose opinions I 
entertain a high respect, are inclined to view the proposition with 
favour, while our highly honoured President has suspended the 
expression of his opinion until the question shall have received 
more complete elucidation. I shall now proceed to consider each 
of the objections in the order in which they have been brought 
forward. 

A 2 



1 



Mr. Prinsep " trusts that none of our colleges has in contem- 
" plation to teach Arabic, Persian, and Hindee words in Roman 
" characters. This," he observes, " would indeed be ultra radi- 
" calism." This is the sole objection assigned by this gentleman 
to the plan, that it would be " ultra radicalism." Let us consider 
therefore what ultra radicalism is. It means an entire change. 
Now change is a relative term which may be either good or bad 
according to the circumstances of each particular case. If the 
change is good, it is of course desirable that it should be radical ; 
and if it is bad, it were better that it did not take place at all. 

This is not the first ultra radicalism in the department of educa- 
tion which has emanated from Delhi. 

At Calcutta scarcely any encouragement is offered to the Ma- 
homedans to study English, while they are bribed at an expence 
of more than 30 Rupees a month for every student to cultivate 
Arabic ;* the consequence of which is that there is scarcely a single 
Mahomedan to be found at Calcutta who has received a tolerable 
education. At Delhi equal encouragement is held out to Maho- 
medans and Hindoos to prosecute the study of English literature 
and science, and the youth of both denominations are pursuing it 
there in nearly equal numbers and with equal success. This is an 
ultra radicalism. 

At Calcutta the division of society into castes is carefully che- 
rished and perpetuated by maintaining separate institutions for 
Christians, Mahomedans, and Hindoos. At Delhi the youth of 
every religion and caste pursue their studies together in the same 
institution. This is another ultra radicalism, and so little was it 



* The following description of this Monkish institution is taken from a note of 
the Secretary to the Committee of Public Instruction : 

"I deem it my duty to notice that the Madrissa has only 74 students, all of 
■whom it supports by pecuniary allowances and that (without taking into consider- 
ation the heavy items of printing) the board and tuition of each student costs 320 
Rupees per annum, a rate greatly exceeding the expenditure on the pupils of any 
other institution. It is possible the excess may be counterbalanced by great public 
advantages." 



anticipated by Mr. Wilson that at the first formation of the Delhi 
College, among other branches of study proposed by him for the 
new institution, one was the " scheme of castes" in all its compli- 
cated ramifications. Happily this kind of propagandise did not 
take there. Benares has always been more under the influence of 
Calcutta, and the institutions at that place present an exact coun- 
terpart to those at the capital. 

I have now submitted to the Committee two instances of ultra 
radicalisms, and I fearlessly allege that they are both good and 
contain in themselves the seeds of great prospective improvement. 
A third has now been produced emanating from the same place, 
and before Mr. Prinsep can justly call upon the Committee to 
condemn it, he is bound to shew that it is of a bad and not of a 
good description. This he has omitted to do, and as yet he has 
not favoured us with a single reason against the more general intro- 
duction of the Roman letters to which he so strongly objects. The 
subject, however, is of so much importance that I cannot suffer it 
to be thus cursorily passed over, and I will proceed to answer, as 
briefly as possible, all the difficulties with which the change can 
be supposed to be attended. 

Perhaps it may be thought that the Roman letters are so strange 
and foreign to the people of this country, that the extensive use of 
them in writing the Indian languages cannot reasonably be antici- 
pated. To this I would reply that these letters, which were at 
first used only for the Latin tongue within the limits of the little 
territory of Latium, have gradually been adopted to express all the 
languages of Europe, America, Australia, and part of Africa and 
Asia. The Greek, the German, and the Russian characters are 
the sole exceptions to the general uniformity in the mode of writ- 
ing in Europe, and at last two of these are rapidly falling into 
disuse. The old German text is now almost entirely abandoned, 
and few new books are published in Germany except in the Ro- 
man character. In Greece the revival of letters has been marked 
by the simultaneous adoption of the universal written character 
of the civilized world, and Romaic, or modern Greek, School 



6 



Books, Testaments, and, I believe, newspapers also, expressed in 
Roman letters, are daily becoming multiplied. Both in North 
and South America, whether the language be English, French, 
Spanish or Portuguese, the Roman characters prevail, without 
any exception, and the same in the Australian continent which is 
in progress of being peopled as yet by Englishmen only. The 
letters which have been adopted to express the languages of the 
south sea islanders are also the Roman, with only such modifica- 
tions as are necessary to denote the sounds peculiar to their tongues, 
and numerous printing presses are at this moment employed in 
spreading these universal harbingers of civilization throughout the 
great Southern Archipelago. The same plan has been pursued in 
Java, the Celebes, and wherever else the Dutch have had autho- 
rity, and, as a specimen, I have the honour to submit to the Com- 
mittee a Testament in the Malay language and Roman character. 

The Roman letters have actually been adopted to express the 
popular languages of India. The plan was introduced by Sir 
William Jones and zealously followed up by Mr. Gilchrist, and 
had the latter gentleman been supported by a Society like ours, 
the system would no doubt by this time have been fully establish- 
ed. Unfortunately, however, for the cause of popular education, 
the Oriental rage was at the period when Gilchrist laboured, at its 
height, and he was overborne by a host of learned orientalists, who, 
in making knowledge simple, foresaw the ruin of their craft. 
Every body must be aware that when the popular languages of the 
East are once disencumbered of their Persian or Sanscrit dress, the 
gentlemen who are the depasitories of Asiatic lore will no longer 
be looked up to with the same degree of wonder and admiration as 
they are at present, and they will greatly sink in the estimation of 
their learned brethren in the West. 

The Roman system of letters has now been adopted in India 
for the third time under happier auspices. The exclusive taste for 
Oriental studies never extended in its full force to the extremities 
of the empire. The focus of this influence was at Calcutta, where 
its intensity was concentrated by a profusion of honours and rewards 



in the shape of professorships both for Natives and Europeans, 
secretaryships to Oriental Colleges, moonsheeships, Arabic trans- 
lationships at the rate of 750 Rupees per 50 pages, studentships 
in the Arabic College at an expence to the state of more than 30 
Rupees a month, &c. &c. There was nothing of this kind in the 
Upper Provinces. Occasionally, indeed, a stray orientalist made 
his appearance there, but unfortunately for the profession, his qua- 
lifications in other respects did not always sufficiently correspond 
with his attainments in the science of words to gain many admirers 
for the system. In the Upper Provinces, therefore, there were no 
predilections to stand in the way of the new letters, and there was 
no danger of their being strangled as soon as they were born, as 
they had formerly been at Calcutta. 

Another circumstance which augurs very favourably for the 
success which is likely to attend the reproduction of the old system, 
is, that the measure has not been adopted until the necessity of it 
became self-evident. Great numbers of the youth of Delhi, who 
are brought up at the English College, have no acquaintance 
whatever either with the Nagree or Persian character. They 
know English as their language of education, and Hindoostanee 
as their vernacular tongue, but the only character with which they 
are acquainted is the Roman, and this they employ to write both 
languages. For their use, therefore, (and they are a very intelli- 
gent and annually increasing class) an English and Hindoostanee 
Dictionary was indispensable. Under these circumstances Mr. 
Thompson undertook the compilation of a small vocabulary which 
met with such eminent success that he was encouraged to apply 
himself to the task of preparing the larger work to which the 
patronage of the Committee is now solicited. The vocabulary is 
circulated herewith, and it is deserving of attention as the first fruits 
of a system of letters, which will eventually become universal 
throughout the East and will contribute in a higher degree to has- 
ten the period when India will possess a national literature of her 
own equal to any other in the world. 

The plan which the Committee is requested to support is, there- 



8 



fore, any thing but an uncertain experiment suggested by the ex- 
pectation of probable advantage. It is a measure called for by 
urgent necessity and proved to be advantageous by the result of a 
trial which has been already made. If there was any thing of 
speculation in the matter, it was in the original essay made by Mr. 
Thompson and not in the measure now adopted to follow up a*plan, 
the soundness of which has been fully established. 

I beg leave to call the attention of the Committee to the com- 
mentary furnished by the facts which have been stated upon the 
cry now raised of ultra radicalism. The first great change was 
effected when the Roman letters surpassed the ancient limits of the 
territory of Rome, and, since that time, by a succession of ultra 
radicalisms, they have been adopted by one nation after another, 
until at last they bid fair to become the universal written character 
of the whole world. Every one of these changes was, no doubt, 
condemned by the lovers of ancient lore of the day, and, if their 
advice had been attended to, every nation would to this day have 
had its own separate character, as well as language, and one more 
barrier would have been added to those which already stand in the 
way of the general fraternization of the human race and the general 
enlightenment of the human mind. In England the Roman letters 
did not acquire their present well established ascendancy until 
after several struggles, and the lovers of the Saxon, Norman, Old 
English, court hand, &c. no doubt, each in their day, strenuously 
maintained that their own way of writing English was the only one 
in which the force and beauties of the language could be properly 
expressed. The ultra radicalism has actually been perpetrated in 
this country. The Roman letters have taken their place in Indian 
literature, and notwithstanding the opposition which may be rais- 
ed by learned orientalists, I am convinced that they will continue 
to advance by a slow, but sure, progress, until that day shall have 
arrived when the curse of Babel shall have been removed and all 
mankind shall have become united in the enjoyment of a common 
language and a common mode of expressing it. 

The Roman is not the first foreign character which has been 



9 

adopted to express the popular language of India. The Persian 
and Arabic characters are equally foreign, and they are not nearly 
so distinct or so easy to be used in printing as the Horn an. The 
Nagree character also, although quite foreign to the languages of 
Persia and Arabia, is used to express words of pure Arabic and 
Persian origin. 

The Roman letters are capable of being adapted to the popular 
languages of India in a much more complete manner than they have 
been to that of England. Nothing can be more preposterous than 
our English system of writing, for it is not deserving of the name 
of Orthography. For instance, hare, hair, heir, were, pear, are 
all written differently, although the vowels have precisely the 
same sound ; but in adapting the Roman letters to the popular 
languages of India, whether Sir ¥m. Jones's, Mr. Gilchrist's, or 
Mr. Thompson's scheme ultimately come into general use, an ex- 
act correspondence between the writing and the pronunciation will 
be preserved. 

In the different schemes of letters which have been devised, the 
varying sounds of the Indian consonants which are not represented 
by a corresponding letter in the Roman alphabet, have been dis- 
tinguished by some peculiar mark or by some modification of the 
kindred letter. I know that the lovers of Arabic and Sanscrit will 
reply to this, that if any modifications of the Roman alphabet are 
admitted for the purpose of denoting sounds peculiar to the Indian 
languages, the system of letters which it is proposed to bring into 
more extended use, will then be neither one thing nor the other, 
neither Roman nor Indian. I rejoin by asking whether the Per- 
sian character, as used in writing Hindoostanee, is more pure? It 
is far from being so. In order to adapt the Persian characters to 
the language of Hindoostan it was necessary to invent signs to dis- 
tinguish the different variations of sound in the Sanscrit consonants, 
and the letters peculiar to the Arabic (ain, ghain, toe, zoe,) were 
introduced without any alteration in the forms in which they are 
used in writing the original language. The Persian alphabet, 
therefore, as used in writing the Hindoostanee language, is as great 



10 



a mongrel as ever the Roman letters can be when they are applied 
to the same purpose, being made up, partly of pure Persian charac- 
ters, partly of letters introduced from the Arabic, and partly of 
certain modified forms of Persian letters which have been invented 
by the Fort William philologists to represent those sounds of the 
Sanscrit letters which are not to be found in Persian. This adap- 
tation was not completed until of late years, when the subject was 
taken up by the learned orientalists of the College of Fort William. 
They might just as well have modified the Roman as the Persian 
characters to express the language of this country. They are both 
equally foreign and equally applicable to it with some slight altera- 
tions. 

We are not such pedants as to desire to sacrifice both sense and 
usefulness in the attempt to attain an ideal uniformity. The basis 
only of the Indo-Roman character is Roman, as the basis of the 
Indo-Persian character is Persian, and where additions or modifi- 
cations are required, they have been made. So far as the languages 
agree, the pme Roman character is used for both, and so far as they 
differ, a modification of it has been devised suited to meet the 
exigency of the case. The particulars in which the languages 
coincide are made evident to the student from the similarity of 
character, and the points in which they differ are rendered plain to 
him by the peculiar marks. This, it must be admitted, is a great 
assistance both to the Englishman learning the Indian, and to the 
Indian learning the English, language, and besides this, by clearly 
pointing out the discrepancies between the tongues, a tendency has 
been created to produce a more exact correspondence between 
them. 

If it were to be asked what advantages are to be expected from 
adopting the Roman letters as the medium for expressing the In- 
dian languages, I would answer as follows : — 

First. The Roman character, whether it be written or printed, 
is more distinct than any other which can be adopted for express- 
ing the languages of India, whether they be derived from the 
Sanscrit, Arabic, Persian or English source, or whether they be 



11 



mixed and compounded of the whole or any number of these 
tongues. The superiority of the Roman letters may be inferred 
from the circumstance of their having gradually been adopted, in 
spite of every opposition, to express the languages of so many dif- 
ferent nations in different parts of the world, and notwithstanding 
the continuance of the same opposition, they are still spreading to 
a degree far exceeding any other character. One main cause of 
the superior distinctness of the Roman character is that the vowels 
are expressed, instead of being either entirely omitted, or distin- 
guished by diacritical points, which are continually liable to be 
misplaced and left out, and even when every precaution is taken, 
it is more difficult to read Hebrew, Arabic, or Persian, in which 
the vowels are represented by minute points, placed above or below 
the line, than any language printed in Roman characters in which 
they are denoted by a separate letter standing in its place in the 
line. Another reason is the extreme neatness of the printed Ro- 
man character. The art of printing has been carried to a far higher 
degree of perfection in these letters than in any others. As they 
are the universal character of the civilized world, they have been 
more extensively used in printing than any other, and, from the 
first invention of the art to the present day, they have been gradu- 
ally elaborated and improved in the manner which has been found 
by experience best adapted to meet the difficulties which from time 
to time have suggested themselves. They have the result of nearly 
three hundred years experience in their favour, and I put it to the 
Committee whether it be most desirable to adopt the Roman cha- 
racter, thus perfected and improved, or to go on with the tedious 
process of elaborating Nagree and Persian by a succession of 
changes which must be carried through a long series of years before 
we can hope to arrive at the same degree of perfection. 

Secondly. Printing can be carried on in Roman characters 
much cheaper and more expeditiously than it can either in Persian 
or in Nagree. For instance, Mr. Pearce informs me that it would 
cost one-third more and take up double the time to print Mr. 
Thompson's manuscript in Roman and Nagree or Persian charac- 

B 2 



12 



ters united, as it would to print it in Roman characters alone, and 
after all, it would not be so perfect, if Persian characters formed 
part of the design, on account of the liability of the numerous 
vowel and other points used in writing that language to break, to 
be misplaced, to be omitted, or not to be correctly ascertained ; 
their application varying according to the authority of different 
Dictionaries. In laying the foundation of a national literature it 
is of great importance to select a character which will cause as 
small an expenditure as possible of the time and money of the na- 
tion. It is not easy to imagine how much of these important ele- 
ments of human affairs might be saved in the course of one hundred 
years by having all our books printed in Roman characters only, 
which cost one-third less, instead of Persian or Nagree which cost 
one-third more. To make knowledge cheap and bring books 
down to the level of the means even of the poorest class of people, 
it must be admitted, is an object of some importance. 

Thirdly. A still greater advantage which will be gained by 
the plan will be, that the adoption of the Roman characters in 
India will lead to the gradual disuse of the Nagree and Persian 
and Arabic ones, and we shall thus have three characters less than 
we had before. Need I point out the advantages of such a con- 
summation ? Next to the multiplicity of languages, the intellect 
of India is oppressed by the multiplicity of letters, and it is shock- 
ing to think how much human time, which might be directed to 
the best purposes, is wasted in gaining a knowledge of the many 
barbarous characters with which the country abounds. The stu- 
dent of Hindoostanee now has to learn both the Nagree and 
Persian characters, and, if he would commence the study of Eng- 
lish, he must learn the Roman also ; but, under the new plan, the 
Roman characters will do for all. The infancy of every nation in 
the pursuit of knowledge is always marked by a diversity of lan- 
guages and letters, and, as it improves in civilization, they gradually 
become assimilated and ultimately merge in one common character 
and tongue. The natural and just tendency of every thing is to 
simplicity. 



13 

Fourthly. It is generally admitted that our endeavours should 
be mainly directed to the gradual formation of a national litera- 
ture embodying in itself the selected knowledge of the whole civi- 
lized world, and it forms a strong recommendation of the plan now 
under consideration that it will greatly tend to facilitate the accom- 
plishment of this highly important object. When the languages 
of England and of India shall become expressed in a character 
common to both, the obstacles which stand in the way of their 
assimilation will be materially diminished. The path from one 
language to the other will be in a manner smoothed to every stu- 
dent, as he will have the words only to learn and not the symbols 
whereby they are expressed. The person who knows English will 
be more easily induced to cultivate a tongue embodied in a cha- 
racter with which he is already acquainted, and into which he can 
introduce pure English words without any glaring impropriety ; 
thereby gratifying his literary taste at the same time that he will 
be able to convey his meaning with greater readiness and precision 
in terms taken from the more scientific and cultivated language ; 
while, on the other hand, the Hindoostanee scholar will, for the 
same reason, enter with greater ease upon the study of English, and 
draw from it, in like manner, stores of expressive words for the 
improvement of his Native dialect. In either case, whether the 
English scholar descend to Hindoostanee, or the Hindoostanee 
scholar ascend to English, the transition will be made much easier 
to them both, by the use of a common character and the certain 
result of this intimate connection between the two languages will 
be that the national literature will be enriched by plentiful supplies 
of words and ideas derived from the English source. The words 
of the English language are so generally indeclinable that their in- 
troduction into the Indian dialects may be accomplished with pe- 
culiar ease. How desirable would it be to engraft upon the po- 
pular languages of the East such words as virtue, honour, grati- 
tude, patriotism, public spirit, and some others for which it is at 
present difficult to find any synonym in them ! 

Lastly. By means of the assimilation proposed, the mutual 



14 



good understanding between the two races will be greatly promot- 
ed. When their languages shall be expressed in a character com- 
mon to both, the English will learn more Indian, and the Indians 
will learn more English. If Latin were to be written in Hebrew, 
and French in Greek, characters, is it likely that we English 
should know so much about those languages as we do ? 

Mr. Prinsep observes, " Mr. Thompson's work will doubtless 
rind a ready sale among Europeans. I cannot vote for any sanc- 
tion being given by the Society even in receiving a dedication from 
the author, unless the words for the use of European students 
be inscribed on the title page ;" from which we must infer, that, 
in Mr. Prinsep's opinion, the circumstance that it will also be of 
use to European students constitutes a ground of objection to the 
book. For my part, I entertain exactly the contrary opinion, 
and, that it will be equally useful to all classes, appears to me to 
be a clear indication that the work is founded on sound principles. 
If, through the medium of our Society, books can be provided 
which shall not only facilitate the acquisition of the English lan- 
guage by the natives of India, but shall also assist the natives of 
England in acquiring a knowledge of the Indian languages, surely 
no wiser or nobler application could be made of our patronage. 
This appears to me to be the exact point of union towards which 
we should direct all our efforts as far as mere language is concerned. 

It is asked what class of people will make use of such a Dic- 
tionary as Mr. Thompson's. I reply briefly, 

First. Those native students of the English language, who, 
like the Delhi youths, are not acquainted with any character ex- 
cept the Roman. 

Secondly. Every native who is engaged in studying the Eng- 
lish language. In order to acquire even the slightest knowledge 
of English, every student must learn the Roman character, and it 
is obvious that the same degree of acquaintance with it, which 
enables him to read English imperfectly, would enable him to 
read his own language fluently. It will be a good way for chil- 
dren to begin to learn the Roman character by reading their own 



15 



language in it, since a familiarity with any written character is more 
easily acquired through the medium of one's own than through that 
of a foreign language. If we wished to teach an English boy the 
Roman character, we should first set him to read English, and not 
Latin. 

Thirdly. Every person, whether Indian or European, who is 
already acquainted with English and wishes to obtain an acquain- 
tance with Hindoostanee. 

In short, every Englishman who wishes to learn Hindoostanee, 
and every Indian who wishes to learn English, will take the first 
four Rupees he has to spare to Mr. Thompson's stall. 

In his love for oriental hieroglyphics, Mr. Prinsep has over- 
looked the fact that to use any Hindoostanee and English Dic- 
tionary a native ?nust understand the Roman letters, unless in- 
deed that gentleman, in his ultra toryism, would express our Eng- 
lish words in Sanscrit, Arabic, or Persian characters. The Ro- 
man letters must be used and understood, at any rate, and why, 
therefore, should we increase the price of our Dictionary and puz- 
zle the brains of our readers by the addition of barbarous Persian ? 
Before I conclude this part of the subject, I may as well observe, 
that it is not expected that the Roman letters can be generally 
introduced at once. Their complete establishment throughout 
India, to the exclusion of every other character, must be a work 
perhaps of several generations. The principle I advocate is the 
one which is understood to form the leading maxim of our Society, 
viz. that we should prepare books of a kind suited for every class of 
readers, and leave it to the popular taste to determine which shall 
be ultimately adopted and which rejected. I have shewn that 
there are at present large classes of people to whom an Hindoos- 
tanee Dictionary, printed in the Roman character, would be highly 
acceptable, and, having done so, I conceive that I have made out 
a sufficient claim for the patronage of the Committee. If the 
demand for books printed in the Roman character spreads, so much 
the better, and if not, we shall only have done our duty in supply- 
ing an actual call for the means of instruction. Although, there- 



16 



fore, the change of which I am the humble advocate, may some 
day become radical, in the meantime it will only be gradual. 

I shall now proceed to answer the objections brought forward 
by Mr. Tytler. The learned gentleman is of opinion that we 
"shall compromise our character, particularly with European 
scholars, in whose eyes the Oriental Literature of Calcutta does 
not stand very high at present, if we go back to the old system of 
printing Oriental books in Roman characters." 

To this I reply that our Committee was not established for the 
purpose of raising the reputation of Calcutta as a seat of Oriental 
Literature, but for the purpose of providing the means of cheap 
and easy instruction for the people of the Bengal Presidency. 
These two objects have heretofore been too much confounded, or 
to speak more correctly, the latter, which is by far the most im- 
portant, involving the intellectual and moral welfare of about sixty 
millions of people, has in a lamentable degree been sacrificed to the 
former. So long as we remained engrossed in the pursuit of the 
higher branches of Oriental lore, the education of the people was 
almost entirely lost sight of by us. The rage for orientalism com- 
menced in the time of Marquis Wellesley. The object which 
that nobleman had in view was to educate Europeans in the lan- 
guages of the East. Our object is to educate Asiatics in the 
sciences of the West. The means adopted by Marquis Wellesley, 
therefore, whether they were well adapted or not for the ends which 
he had in view, are totally unsuited to forward the design of our 
society. 

If Lord Wellesley's oriental system had been confined within 
its proper limits, although it might not have done any good, yet it 
would not have done much harm ; but, instead of this, it soon ex- 
ceeded all due bounds and deluged the country with such an inun- 
dation of Sanscrit and Arabic, as had not been seen since the time 
of King Bhoj or Muhmood of Ghuznee. Instead of a revival of 
sound learning, it was only a revival of antiquated errors, and our 
orientalists fondly imagined that, while they were propagating the 
long exploded absurdities of Avicenna or the profligacies of the 



17 



Sanscrit dramas, they were promoting the cause of public instruc- 
tion. 

This era of the history of India affords a curious instance of the 
natural tendency of the human mind to attach an undue degree of 
importance to those particular pursuits with which it happens to be 
conversant. The study of Sanscrit and Arabic is unobjectionable 
as a curious branch of enquiry, to be pursued by men of leisure and 
literary curiosity who happen to have a turn for the study of dif- 
ferent languages, but it is absurd to suppose that the spread of true 
knowledge and the elevation of the morals of a nation can be pro- 
moted by such means. 

For about thirty years, all the influence of the state was employ- 
ed in directing the talent of the country towards the exclusive culti- 
vation of the three dead languages, Sanscrit, Arabic and Persian,* 
and a high standard of acquirement in any one of them formed a 
certain avenue to civil employ. There was also another, and a 
still more powerful, motive to encourage the taste for orientalism, 
particularly among the English portion of the community. This 



* The languages of Arabia and Persia, as known in India, are dead languages. 
If we except a few Arab and Persian merchants, they are the living, spoken lan- 
guages of no one class of people, and when the natives of the country wish to cul- 
tivate them, they are under the necessity of commencing the study of them from 
the beginuing as they would of any other disused tongue. There was a time, no 
doubt, when they were the living languages of large classes of people in India. 
But that period has long since passed by, and English has taken the place which 
they once occupied. The spoken languages of India are the Hindoostanee, Ben- 
galee, &c. which are the languages of the many, and English, which is the language 
of the few, but although it be the language of the few, English possesses an impor- 
tance far out of proportion to the numerical amount of the people by whom it is 
spoken, arising, as well from the superior influence inseparable from our situation 
in India, as from the superior stores of learning which our language contains. The 
English language is the source from which we must draw for the improvement of 
Native literature, and we might as well separate the stream from the fountain or 
the bread from the leaven which leavens it, as the vernacular dialects from the 
English language. The two will go on together through successive generations 
till they meet in a common language, equal for variety and power of expression 
and for the amount of knowledge which it contains, to any of which the world can 
boast. 

C 



18 



is the one alluded to by Mr. Tytler. By means of the three dead 
languages, an European reputation was to be acquired. Here was 
a meed worthy of the most aspiring ambition ! By the successful 
study of Sanscrit, Arabic and Persian, a person not only becomes 
well known in England, but his name is familiarized to the " Eu- 
ropean scholars'' of France and Germany and almost every other 
European country, for there is none which does not boast of some 
orientalists. 

This would be very well in an Antiquarian Society of European 
gentlemen, but it will not suffice for our Society which has in view 
the improvement of an intellectually ignorant and morally degrad- 
ed people. Let Mr. Tytler continue to pursue his Arabic studies, 
in the prosecution of which I wish him every success ; but let us 
not suffer ourselves to be persuaded by him that we are instructing 
the Indians, while we are only gratifying the peculiar literary taste, 
and I fear, too generally, the vanity of a few European scholars 
who happen to have turned their attention to the Sanscrit and 
Arabic languages. Our business is not with Europe, but with 
India; and our object is to instruct the people of India by the 
united means of English and of the popular languages, and not to 
gain a reputation in Europe by a patronage of the learned few who 
have leisure and inclination to devote themselves to the study of 
Sanscrit and Arabic. The objection that we shall fail to acquire 
for ourselves an European reputation and that the bounds of the 
continent of India will also form the limits of our fame, can there- 
fore have no influence with us. We never meant to aspire to the 
honour of knighthood, nor did the prospect of filling the oriental 
chairs in the universities of England ever enter into our imagina- 
tions, and when we travel abroad, we shall not feel mortified if we 
pass unrecognized by the literati of Paris, Bonne and Vienna, 
never having expected any attention from them. These honours 
are the rewards of encouraging Sanscrit and Arabic lore. But we 
shall enjoy the humble satisfaction of having done good in our day 
and generation, and I am sure that there are some gentlemen on 
our Committee whose souls are susceptible of being influenced by 



19 

such a motive. We desire not to claim fraternity with Messrs. 
Bopp and Schlegel, but we recognize the duty of providing for 
the mental cultivation and moral improvement of millions of our 
fellow-subjects, and to this cause we are ready to devote time, and 
talents, and property, and all we possess that can be spared from 
other claims. 

It may be thought that I have exaggerated the extent to which 
the instruction of the many has been sacrificed to the literary taste 
of the few. I beg leave to assure the Committee that such is far 
from being the case. A statement is annexed of the entire sum 
which has been expended by the General Committee of Public 
Instruction from the date of its institution up to the 30th April 
1832, in the printing of Oriental works, or in assisting the authors 
to print them, by taking a certain number of copies off their hands. 
From an examination of this document it will be seen, that the 
patronage of the General Committee has been bestowed in the 
following proportions up to the above-mentioned date : 

Sanscrit 13,000 volumes. 

Arabic . , 5,600 ditto. 

Persian 2,500 ditto. 

Hindee 2,000 ditto. 

Not a single Bengalee or Oordoo book has been printed by the 
General Committee, nor has one translation been made through 
their medium into the popular languages. It is true that four 
Hindee works have been published by them (Subha Bilas, Haj- 
niti, Chutraprakasa, and Dayabhaga,) but none of these convey 
any European information. Not one of them is a translation of 
any European book, but they are either reprints of original Hindee 
books or of old Hindee translations from Sanscrit books; and they 
are all classical works, formed on an exclusively Sanscrit model, 
without a knowledge of which language they are almost unintelli- 
gible, and are therefore quite unfit to be used as a medium of 
popular instruction. 

Will it now be said that I have exaggerated ? These books 
were printed at the expense of a fund consecrated by the Parlia- 

C 2 



20 



ment of Great Britain to the ^ause of popular education, and 
they form the result of twelve years labours of the Committee of 
Public Instruction in that highly important branch of their duty, 
which consists in the provision of Oriental books for the instruction 
of the public. Some of these books are of such a nature that the 
members of the General Committee would at once repudiate the 
idea of their being intended for the instruction of youth or even of 
their being at all put into their hands. The Sanscrit drama called 
the Mricchakata, or Toy Cart, for instance, is all about a prostitute. 
The Sanscrit poem called Naishada, or Nal Damayanti, now re- 
printing at a great expence in 22 cantos, is another of this nature. 
The whole object of the poet appears to be to display his critical 
acquaintance with the Sanscrit language and his exquisite taste for 
sensuality. At times, the author positively revels in licentiousness, 
and Don Juan is a tyro compared with him. The Committee will 
be able to judge of the character of the work when I inform them 
that the plot of the poem is as follows : Nala is rendered invisible 
and introduced by the god Indra into the harem of Damayanti to 
make love on his behalf to the beautiful mortal, but, as might have 
been expected, Nala fell in love himself and married the lady. A 
large portion of the poem is taken up in the detail of all that Nala 
observedi n the interior of the harem in the most unguarded hours 
of its inmates, while he himself preserved his invisible form. Re- 
pasts of this kind may contribute very much to the gratification of 
the oriental scholars of Europe and India. The book was of 
course intended exclusively for their perusal, and I strongly dis- 
claim the idea of supposing that the members of the General Com- 
mittee ever intended to pollute the minds of the youth of this coun- 
try by teaching them lechery under its most seducive forms. These 
two books are only specimens of a great variety of the same cha- 
racter that might be named. If the sum which has been employ- 
ed by the General Committee of Public Instruction in providing 
books for the amusement of oriental scholars in Europe, had been 
devoted to the supply of books of popular instruction, there would 
now be scarcely a school in the country which might not have been 



21 



provided with some easy tracts of sound knowledge and pure mo- 
rality. With the exception of the Sanscrit dramas, the works 
referred to are almost all quarto volumes, of seven hundred or 
eight hundred pages each, and, for the same cost at which one of 
these great books is got up, twenty or thirty, nay, sometimes eighty 
or a hundred school books, might be supplied. 

Among other honours with which the administration of Lord 
William Bentinck will descend to posterity, it will not be the 
least, that in his time the Oriental mania, which broke out under 
Lord Wellesley's Government; advanced under Lord Minto's; 
was in the height of its career under Lord Hastings, and began to 
flag under Lord Amherst's; has completely exhausted itself. 
Orientalism has, at length, ceased to be considered the exclusive 
test of merit, and the public mind has completely awoke to the 
fact that the shortest and most effectual way of communicating 
knowledge to the people of this country is by educating the youth 
in English literature, and, where this is impracticable, by providing 
them with translations of books on European science in their own 
languages. All classes now concur in the expediency of opening 
in India the pure fount of English literature, and, where the parent 
source happens to be inaccessible to the student from the existence 
of other claims upon his time, he may at least be enabled to im- 
bibe sound knowledge, though to a more limited extent, by means 
of translations in his native tongue. 

According to the best of my judgment the truth lies in this opi- 
nion, but whether this be the case or not, it is certain that in pro- 
portion as the public have advanced towards this point, the majority 
of the Committee of Public Instruction have receded from it. By 
referring again to the annexed statement, it will be seen that in 
1832 and 1833, seven Sanscrit and the same number of Arabic 
books were printed by the Committee and only one Hindee (which, 
like the others, was on an exclusively Sanscrit model) and none in 
Bengalee or Oordoo ; while on the 2d November last, when the 
return was furnished, there were four Sanscrit and ten Arabic books 
in the press, and none in Hindee, Oordoo, or Bengalee. A change, 



22 



therefore, has taken place, but it is all on the side of the learned 
languages and against popular instruction ; and while Sanscrit used 
to be the principal object of the Committee's patronage, the tide 
has since turned in favour of Arabic. These learned languages 
seem to have just changed places in the estimation of the General 
Committee, and as there were 25 Sanscrit and 12 Arabic books 
published by them up to the end of 1831 and 1832, so there are 
now 10 Arabic and 4 Sanscrit books in the press ; that is to say, 
while Sanscrit was formerly twice as much encouraged as Arabic, 
so now Arabic is twice as much encouraged as Sanscrit. In the year 
1832 and 1833, the two languages were treated with equal favour, 
there having been exactly seven books published in each in that 
year. It will also be seen from the return that there are at this 
moment a number of translations into Arabic going through the 
press for the purpose of popular instruction, but there is no account 
of what they cost. 

Compared with the limited use which can be made of them, 
owing to the small number of persons in India capable of reading 
and understanding Arabic books, the expence of these translations 
is very heavy. Indeed it is the rarity of acquirements like Mr. 
Tytler's, which is supposed to confer such a high value upon his 
labours. He is said to be the only person in India who is quali- 
fied for the task of translating English science into Arabic, from 
which we may form some conception of the limited number of 
individuals who possess such a practical acquaintance with this 
language as to render it easier for them to acquire knowledge 
through its medium than through that of any other. The Com- 
mittee of the Agra College have for months past been advertizing 
for a native professor to fill the vacant chair in the department of 
Arabic Grammar, and no person possessing the necessary qualifi- 
cations has yet made his appearance. The following is a state- 
ment of Mr. Tytler's receipts as Arabic translator general from 
September 1829 to March 1833 : — 



23 



Works translated. 



Hooper's Vade Me- 
cum 



Hutton's Malheraa 
tics, vol. 1st 

Crocker's Land Sur 
v eying , 

Crocker's Land Sur 
veving 

Hutton's Mathema- 
tics 

Medical Books 



From what date. 



Sept. 1829. 
Oct. „ 
Nov. „ 
Feb. 1830 
March „ 
April ,, 
May „ 
July „ 



Sept. „ 

Oct. „ 

Nov. „ 
Jan. 1831 

May ,, 

Sept. „ 

Ditto 1832 
Nov. ,, 
Feb. 1833 
March „ 



Remuneration for Translation . 



1,000 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 



8,000 



1,000 
1,000 



1,000 
1,000 



1,000 
1,000 



750 
750 

750 
750 







11 months at 742 Rs. per 

mouth. 



2,000 Rs. 2 months at 
1,000 Rs. per month. 

2,000 Rs. 3 months at 
606 10 S ditto. 



2,000 Rs. 5 months at 
400 ditto. 



3,000 Rs. 7 months at 
428 9 ditto. 



Abstract. 

Remuneration received by Dr. Tytler for translating 

Hooper's Ana. Vade Mecum, 8,000 

Ditto one-half Hutton's Mathematics, vol. 1st 2,000 

Ditto Crocker's Land Surveying ....•*** 4,000 

Ditto Hooper's Physician's Vade Mecum 3,000 



Rs. 17,000 



Being 42 months at 400 Rs. a month. 



This new light only lately broke in upon the majority of the 
General Committee, and it never seems to have been imagined 
before that translations into Arabic were good for public instruc- 
tion. The prevailing taste used to be entirely on the side of San- 
scrit. Brighter days, however, have at length begun to dawn upon 
India, and both Sanscrit and Arabic, after many a hard-fought 



24 



battle, are slowly retiring from the field of popular education. 
The Arabic translations have been put a stop to, with the excep- 
tion only of about 3,000 Rupees which were saved out of the fire, 
on the ground that Hooper's Anatomist's Vade Mecum was still 
incomplete. At the period when this change took place 65,000 
Rs. remained to be expended in completing Arabic translations 
of only six books, that is 32,000 Rs. for five Medical ivorks, 
and 33,000 Rs. for the untranslated part of Hutton " with 
something extra for Diagrams." This is according to Mr. Tyt- 
ler's own estimate. 

I am far from wishing to discourage the prosecution of oriental 
studies within their proper limits. If it be the duty of Govern- 
ment to preserve the knowledge of Sanscrit and Arabic as a branch 
of curious literary enquiry, after the public voice has decided 
against them as a medium of national instruction, let professorships 
be established and a certain portion of the public revenue set apart 
for this particular purpose ; but let us not give out that we are 
instructing the people of India, while we are really only endeavour- 
ing to support our own reputation for oriental learning. If we were 
real orientalists we should make the welfare of the East the main 
object of our efforts and should endeavour to draw from the ample 
stores of Western learning intellectual food for the improvement 
of our Asiatic brethren, but our conduct is really exactly the re- 
verse of this. Nothing effectual is done for popular education in 
the East. No efforts are made to naturalize in this country the 
knowledge which we have so largely to bestow and a consider- 
able portion even of the scanty fund which has been assigned by 
the British Parliament for the purpose of Indian popular instruc- 
tion, has been alienated by us to cater for the taste of the lovers 
of oriental learning in Europe. It seems to have been overlook- 
ed that the annual lakh of rupees was assigned by Parliament for 
the education of the youth of India, and that it was never intend- 
ed from this source to provide matter for the lucubrations of Messrs. 
Bopp and Schlegel, or even to gratify the taste of the professors 
in the English Universities. However it may have been recog- 



25 

nized elsewhere, I trust that the principles of the orientalists will 
not be admitted into our Committee, and that a book of popular 
instruction will not be rejected because it is suggested that its 
publication may " compromise our character with European scho- 
lars." 

Mr. Tytler further observes, that Mr. Thompson's book appears 
to be " even below our general run of publications," and he adds 
that " it is a mere naked vocabulary destitute of every principle of 
scientific philology." These remarks afford a singular illustration 
of how diametrically opposite different people may think on the 
same subject. The very reasons for which Mr. Tytler objects to 
the book form the ground on which Ihave presumed to recommend 
it to the notice of the Committee. All the English and Oordoo 
Dictionaries which have yet been published are above both the 
comprehension and the purses of the people, and they are too sci- 
entific for their edification. They are inaccessible to the poor and 
unintelligible to the unlearned and to children. The lowest price 
at which Gilchrist's, Shakespear's, and the other existing English 
and Oordoo Dictionaries are to be obtained, places them beyond 
the reach of any except the highest class of the people, and they 
are often so much crowded with synonymes, drawn fresh from 
Arabic and Sanscrit, and quite unknown in common parlance, and 
contain such a profusion of learned etymologies as to puzzle and 
confound the minds of the uninitiated. Under these circumstances 
Mr. Thompson designed the plan of his " School Dictionary," 
intending to make it so cheap as to be within every body's reach, 
and so popular in its character as to be universally intelligible. 
The work has not been completed, and it is submitted to the Com- 
mittee in the hope, that the author may be enabled through their 
assistance to bring it before the world. The price of each copy 
will be 4 Rupees, which is only one-fifth part of the cost of the 
Dictionaries hitherto published, and great care has been taken in 
the compilation of it to explain the meaning of the English words 
only by such synonymes as are in general use. 

The existing Dictionaries have all been formed more or less 

D 



26 

upon the Sanscrit, Arabic and Persian models, and their authors 
appear to have taken a pride in displaying their intimate acquaint- 
ance with barbaric lore. Their columns are swelled with foreign 
words, taken wholesale from Richardson and Wilson, without in 
the least considering whether or not they form part of the lan- 
guage of the country, and the general tendency to fall into this 
error has been greatly aggravated by the pedantic spirit of the na- 
tive assistants of the lexicographers, who were almost always 
learned Mouluvees and Pundits, puffed up with literary pride and 
more conversant with musty volumes than with the spoken lan- 
guage of the land. Mr. Thompson's Dictionary, on the contrary, 
has been drawn up strictly on the popular model, and it has been 
steadily kept in view, as the main principle of the undertaking, to 
admit no word which is not in familiar use in the towns and villages 
of Upper India. " Scientific Philology" has been discarded from 
the work, on principle, and " popular philology" has been adopt- 
ed in its room, and it is therefore as reasonable to expect that it 
should fail to conciliate the regard of the " man of letters," as that 
it should be accepted with pleasure by every one who considers 
the instruction of the many as an object of superior importance to 
the literary celebrity of the few. The education of the natives at 
large has too long been made a sacrifice to the exclusive taste of 
our orientalists, and philology, which is only one out of many 
branches of science, is the only one which has yet received any 
considerable cultivation in this country. We do not want a Ba- 
bel of dead languages, but the living languages of the English and 
Indians. We do not want an ocean of words, but an influx of 
ideas. 

In a late series of letters, signed with a German T. and pub- 
lished in the India Gazette, those persons who wish to encourage 
the Indians in their laudable endeavours to acquire our language, 
were taunted with the " extraordinary fact that amidst all the zeal 
at present manifested for teaching English no one step has been 
taken, either by individuals, or Societies, however much they 
profess to have the object at heart, for compiling either an English 



27 



Grammar or Dictionary for the use of the natives." An effort has 
now been made to supply one of these requisites ; the step, the 
absence of which was lamented by the gentleman who designated 
himself by the German T., has been taken, and it was therefore 
reasonable to expect that Mr. Tytler, who evidently belongs to 
the same school with his German namesake, would have hailed 
the event with satisfaction and congratulated our Committee upon 
having provided a Dictionary which, although it did not come up 
to his standard of perfection, at any rate brought the means of 
learning English down to the level of every native, however narrow 
his circumstances might be ; but instead of this, he condemned the 
work because it is "below our general run of publications'' and 
because it would "compromise our character particularly with 
European scholars." 

The same letter contains Mr. £T.'s notion of a popular Diction- 
ary which it will be useful to transcribe, as it furnishes a happy 
illustration of the motives which have induced his learned friend 
to reject Mr. Thompson's performance. " The Grammar must 
be accompanied by a copious Dictionary, comprising not a list of 
mere vocables, with a string of oriental words thrown after them 
in a random heap, but a philosophical account of each word, ex- 
plaining its etymology, its radical and metaphorical meanings 
IN all their shades, its synonymes and cognates, its modes of 
construction, and the various idioms with which it is connected, 
which in English are so numerous and so capricious, yet so neces- 
sary to be understood, the whole to be clothed in a simple style of 
the native language which is that of the scholars, and the 
points of similarity and difference between the English and 
ariental phraseology pointed out as they occur." The letter also 
contains a curious prospectus of a popular Grammar, but as it does 
uot immediately relate to the subject before us, I will not allude 
to it further than by observing that it is worthy of perusal. A 
copy of the India Gazette containing Mr. {JT.'s letter is annexed 
to this paper. 

Mr. Tytler states that the School Dictionary is a " mere naked 

D 2 



28 

vocabulary destitute of every principal of scientific philology/' 
to which I fully assent, in the sense and for the reasons above 
stated ; but then the learned gentleman goes on to say, " in which 
the words are thrown together in aheap" and " full of mistransla- 
tions and misapprehensions," which I deny. The term " thrown 
together in a heap" would lead one to suppose, that the Dictionary 
is of a complex character and that it is burdened with a number of 
useless synonymes, whereas the opposite to this is really the case. 
The plan of the work is of the simplest kind, and as no word has 
been introduced which is not in general use, the synonymes are 
very few. Generally speaking, there is only one, and there are 
seldom more than two or three. Any recourse to the Sanscrit or 
Arabic Dictionary was expressly excluded by the plan of the 
work, and there was, therefore, no source from which synonymes 
could be drawn except popular parlance. 

The assertion that the book is " full of mistranslations and mis- 
apprehensions" could only be completely met by challenging an 
examination of it by a Committee of unprejudiced persons, which 
I should not hesitate to do, if the copyright belonged to me, which 
it does not. The book is the property of Mr. Thompson who 
depends in a great measure upon the produce of his literary labours 
for the means of providing for a numerous family, and I do not 
know how far he might be disposed to subject it to the risk of 
being condemned. He might think that the object to be attain- 
ed by success would not compensate the loss which might ensue 
from defeat, because he could only gain the patronage of the 
School Book Society if the book were to be approved of, whereas 
he might lose not only their patronage, but the patronage of the 
public also by its formal condemnation. Perhaps also he might 
not place sufficient confidence in the gentlemen who have hitherto 
acquired a reputation as " great orientalists" to trust them with 
passing a decision upon the value of his property. It would at 
once occur to him that they would be likely to judge of his work 
by a standard which he does not acknowledge, and the language 
of Hindoostan is as yet so unfixed that if a work were ever so 



29 

perfect, it might be condemned, according as one or another crite- 
rion might be adopted as the rule of decision. A lover of San- 
scrit might condemn it, because it did not sufficiently approach to 
the Sanscrit model. An Arabic scholar might object to it be- 
cause many highly expressive words, which are probably in daily 
familiar use between the scholar and his moonshee, are omitted ; 
while others are used in a sense in which they are not to be found 
in the original Arabic ; and in the same way the Persian scholar 
might condemn it because the thent Hindee is sometimes prefer- 
red to a more elegant Persian synonyme. That such is not un- 
likely to be the case we have already had a convincing proof, 
since the moment the book came to Mr. Tytler, he condemned it 
because it had not been formed upon his model of " scientific phi- 
lology." There is a great difference also in the kind of Hindoo- 
stanee spoken at different places, and although the work might be 
perfectly identical with the language spoken at the majority of 
places and by the majority of persons in Upper India, it might 
differ greatly from that which is spoken at some places and by 
some persons. Sometimes Sanscrit, and sometimes Arabic and 
Persian, predominate in the language of different places and even 
of different persons in the same places ; so that if Mr. Thompson 
did not happen to hit off that particular modification of the lan- 
guage with which the members of the examining Committee were 
familiar, he might be condemned, though entirely without fault, 
to lose the reward of all his labours. The Arabian Hindoostanee, 
which has grown up at Calcutta under the fostering patronage of 
Government and is spoken by the Moonshees of the College of 
Fort William and the Mouh.vees and students of the Mahomedan 
College, is quite a different language from that which prevails in 
any other part of India. 

In judging of a work of this kind, a great deal must depend on 
the qualifications of the author and the character which he has at 
stake. Although he may not be known to all the members of the 
Committee, Mr. Thompson is a person of tried ability for the task 
which he has now brought to completion. He has resided for so 



30 



many years in the Upper Provinces and has been brought by the 
nature of his duties into such frequent and familiar intercourse with 
people of all classes both in town and country, that he possesses a 
thorough acquaintance with the popular language, and besides 
this, he has had great experience in the preparation of books for 
the instruction of the people through his connection with the Se- 
rampore Mission. One of his last works was the Vocabulary to 
which the attention of the Committee has been already called. 
This little book is exactly on the same plan as the School Dic- 
tionary, only on a much smaller scale and, as before stated, it was 
the success attending this publication which encouraged Mr. 
Thompson to undertake the larger work. Owing to his reduced 
circumstances, he has not now the means of paying the expence of 
printing his Dictionary, and he therefore requests the assistance of 
the School Book Society, which, by taking a certain number of 
copies, may enable him to print the work, at the same time that 
the Society itself cannot be a loser by the transaction, as all the 
copies taken by it will readily sell at the price agreed on, or four 
rupees a copy, and the assistance given to him will therefore really 
be of the nature of an advance, to enable a deserving man to bring 
out a work of great popular utility. Mr. Thompson's letter is 
annexed, which will throw some additional light on the above 
remarks. For my part, I have spent some years in different parts 
of Upper India in constant communication with all classes of the 
people, and I can assure the Committee, that the School Dic- 
tionary contains the nearest approximation to the popular language 
which I have yet seen. No doubt it has some faults, like every 
other human production, but these may be rectified and great im- 
provements may be made in subsequent editions. 

(Signed) C. E. TREVELYAN. 
Calcutta, January, 1834. 



31 



List of Books printed up to 30tk April, 1833. 



SANSCRIT. 



Magdabodha 

Laghukaumudi 

Bhati Kavya, in 2 vols. 500 copies 
Siddbanta Muktavali and Bbasha 

cchheda , 

Naya Sutlra Vati 

Sahitya Darpana 

Vedanta Sara 

DayaTatwa , 

Vy vahara Tatwa . . . 

Daya Krama Sangraha 

Dayabhagha 

Mitakshara 

Manu Sanhita, in 2 vols. 500 copies 

Mrichcha Kati 

Uttara Rama Charitra 

Vikramaevasi ... .„ 

MalateMadhava... , 

MudvdRashi 

Retnavali 

Sanscrit and English Dictionary ... 

Lilavati 

Raghu Vansa ,, 

Mahabhdrata, vol. 1st 



each 
Pari- 



each 



Copies 

500 

500 

1,000 

500 
500 
500 
500 
500 
500 
500 y 
500 | 
560 J 
1,000 
500 
500 
500 
500 
500 
500 
500^ 
500 
500 
500 



I Of these 250 copies each were 
given to the Editor for cor- 
recting proofs and collat- 
ing. 



Of this 100 copies each were 



> 



given to the 
ditto ditto. 



Editor for 



13,000 



ARABIC. 

Majaz ul Qanun 

Sudidi 

Tashrih ul Qalb 

Fat&wa Alamgiri, vol. 1st ... 



Ditto 

Ditto 

Ditto 

Kifayah 

Ditto 

Inayah 

Ditto 

Hidayah 



ditto 
ditto 
ditto 
ditto 
ditto 
ditto 
ditto 



2d 

3d. 

4th 

3d. 

4th 

3d . 

4th 



300 
300 
500 
500 
500 
500 
500 
500" 
500 
500 
500 
500 



Of these 250 copies each were 
given to the Editor for cor- 
recting proofs and collat- 
ing. 

Of this 100 copies ditto. 



5,600 



32 



PERSIAN. 

Lilavati 

Mulukhkhas ut Tnwarikh ... 

Majmua Sbanisi » 

PersiaD Miscellany 

Esop's Fables 



500 
500 
500 
500 

500 

2,500 



HINDI. 



Subha Vilas ... 
Rajniti , 

Cbhatra Prakasa 
Dayabbagha 



500 
530 

500 
500 

2,030 



ABSTRACT PRINTED. 

Sanscrit 13,0G0 

Arabic 5,600 

Persian ... 2,500 

Hindi 2,030 

Total copies 23,190 





In the Press. 


SANSCRIT. 




Mahabharata, vol. 2d ... ., 


500 


Snsrata 


500 


Raj Tarangini ... 


509 


Naishadha 


500 



ARABIC. 

Fatawa Alanigirl, vol. 5th 

Anisul Musharrihin, Arabic Version of 

Hooper's Anatomist's Vade Mecum ... 500 

Ustugisat, a treatise on Geometry 500 

Jawamia ilm-ur Riazi, Arabic ditto of 

Hutton's Mathematics ... » 500 

Jawamia ilm-ul Masahat, Arabic ditto of 

Crocker's Land Surveyings ... ... 500 

Bridge's Algebra, Arabic ditto 500 

PERSIAN. 

Harington's Analysis 500 

Khazanat ul Ilin .,. ... 500 



Of this 100 copies as above. 



33 



List of Books printed in 1832 — 33. 



SANSCRIT. 


ARABIC. 




Mahabharata, vol. 1st. 


Fatawa Alaingiri, vol. 4 and 5 j 


vol. 5 


Raj Tarangini. 


in the press. 




Retnavali. 


. Hidayah. 




Naishadha. 


Sadidi. 




HINDEE. 


PERSIAN. 




Dayabhagha. 


Khuzanat ul Ilm. 
In the Press. 




SANSCRIT. 


ARABIC. 




Lilavati. 


Arris ul Musharrihin. 




Susrata. 


Jawamia ilm-ur Riazi. 





Sanscrit and English Dictionary. 



Jawamia ilm-ul Mnsahat. 



Statement of Printing Charges. 






Total charges of Printing from 
1824-25 to 1829-30 


69,347 
9,218 


2 




4 



60,129 
43,120 


2 

10 

13 




4 

9 
1 



Deduct received from Mr. Pearce, 
by transfer of the printing ma- 
terials 


Total charges in 1830-31 


19,363 

16,653 

7,103 


8 

6 

11 


9 
3 
9 


Ditto ditto 1831-32 


Ditto ditto 1832-33 


Add charges for printing Bridge' 








s Algebra in the Bi- 


1,03,249 
2,176 


Total 


1,05,425 


13 


1 



MR. PRINSEP'S MINUTE. 



When on the first circulation of the proposal for subscribing to 
Mr. Thompson's Dictionary I recorded the minute which has been 
made the subject of so lengthened a reply from Mr. Trevelyan, I 
certainly never contemplated the probability of its forming the text 
of a voluminous disquisition in the India Gazette. In the ordi- 

£ 



34 



nary business of a Committee consisting of about twenty members, 
little more than a vote or a brief remark could be allowed to each, 
or discussions would become interminable and real business would 
stand still. The broad questions and principles on which the edu- 
cation of the country should be conducted may form very proper 
themes for those who have the time and talent to write volumes 
upon them out of Committee. In it I think a contest of opinion 
would be very inconvenient, and I shall therefore merely trouble 
my brother Committeemen with a brief explanation of my former 
minute lest its purport should be misunderstood. 

I said that a Vocabulary like Mr. Thompson's of Hindoosta- 
nee in Roman character would be much sought after by European 
students. I learned the spoken language thus myself, and I know 
how difficult it is, when such a text is available, to keep the eye 
upon the Native character. This was one motive for my objec- 
tion. We print or purchase books (I presume) for schools of Na- 
tive youth, not for European educated adults. In childhood it is 
equally easy to master either system, and it seems to me to be par- 
ticularly desirable not to lose that opportunity of imprinting upon 
the pliable mind of the pupil, a thorough habit and facility of 
writing and reading his Native tongue ; not to thwart his know- 
ledge of it by keeping it out of sight, and pushing prominently for- 
ward a system which must keep him in comparative ignorance of 
the construction and orthography of his mother tongue. The only 
plea upon which Mr. Thompson's scheme could be upheld for 
Native education, is the eventual general substitution of the Ro- 
man character ; which to me appears as chimerical as the establish- 
ment of an universal language or the " removal of the curse of Ba- 
bel." At any rate a School Book Society of the present gene- 
ration must conform to existing things, and give such books and 
such education as shall prove in after life to be most useful to its 
scholars. To a large class the knowledge of Persian and to a 
larger that of the Hindee is essential for the business of their lives, 
and it appears to me to be of much greater importance to ground 
them well in the writing of those languages (the speaking of them 



35 

being their birthright cannot be eradicated though it may be sys- 
tematized and purified) than even to introduce them to much 
vaunted English with all its moral and scientific advantages. The 
instruction of the country, as well as the business, and eventually 
the literature must be in the vernacular, and our aim ought to be to 
foster that, and transfuse into it the substance of our own advanc- 
ed knowledge. Those whom we instruct in English are to be the 
pioneers and interpreters of this peaceful and insensible innovation, 
not the uncompromising guerillas of a violent and ultra radical 
subversion of all that now exists. "What would the parents of a 
boy at the Calcutta Anglo-Indian College say if we turned out 
his son H a finished youth" without a knowledge of the Bengalee 
Alphabet ? Have we yet seen a Bengalee Dictionary in the Ro- 
man character ? 

As for the superiority of English orthography I never heard 
a mother who did not complain of the difficulty of teaching a child 
the difference between C and S, and I will ask whether a Native 
child is more likely to learn the identity and the pronunciation of 

the word for " Town" from the unchangeable fj or «TJn:, or from 

the delightfully variable nagar, nugur, nagore, nuggur, naghur, ni- 
gurh, nogor, and nugre, which will be naturalized by the introduc- 
tion of the system Mr. Trevelyan advocates. For my part I think 
the urchin would as readily recognize the " City of God" (Alla- 
habad) in the "isle of bats" and the Palace at Ghazeepore in 
" Chelsea tune" (chuhul sitoon). 

(Signed) J. PRINSEP. 
2d January, 1834. 



MR. TYTLER'S MINUTE. 

In all this I fully concur and feel much obliged to Mr. Prin- 
sep for having expressed my sentiments so fully. 

(Signed) J. T. 
E 2 



36 



I think it hard in Mr. Prinsep not to allow a large body of the 
youth of India the same advantage of learning Hindoostanee 
through the medium of the Roman letters, which he gratefully ac- 
knowledges in his own case. I repeat that there is a numerous 
class of Native youth rising in Upper India, who are acquainted 
only with the Roman characters ; for their use Mr. Thompson's 
Vocabulary was prepared, and so highly was it appreciated by 
them, that the more extended plan of the dictionary was shortly 
after commenced upon. In assisting in the publication of Mr. 
Thompson's Dictionary, therefore, we are only conforming our 
operations to " the existing state of things" which is correctly stat- 
ed by Mr. Prinsep to be the ruling principle of our society. Mr. 
Prinsep's mistake consists in his taking the last generation for the 
present, and he will not be persuaded that the people of this coun- 
try have made such a considerable advance towards correct ideas 
as they really have. 

But Mr. Prinsep would have them learn the Persian and Na- 
gree characters at any rate, for the sake of enabling them to study 
Hindoostanee literature. I should like to know where this lite- 
rature is to be found. I have never been able to discover it, un- 
less such trash as the Khulela Dhumna and Bagho Behar, which 
are translations from the Persian got up by the Orientalists of 
Fort William, and a few popular songs can be called such. Miss 
Bird's books and a very few others which have been published in 
Hindoostanee of late years represent the whole body of the Hin- 
doostanee literature, and I am prepared to have editions of them 
all printed in the Roman character, as soon as Mr. Thompson's 
dictionary is out. The truth is that we have to construct a lite- 
rature for Upper India from the beginning, and the more we shut 
our eyes to the broad glare of this fact, the less disposed shall we 
be to enter upon our task with the zeal befitting its magnitude and 
importance. 



37 



Mr. Prinsep admits that in childhood it is equally easy to mas- 
ter either system of letters, and why, therefore, of the two systems, 
should we choose, in order to express the new literature, that which 
is the least perfect, and which will always render school books, 
one-third dearer than there is any necessity for owing to the supe- 
rior cost of printing in Persian and Nagree. In my former mi- 
nute, I endeavoured to prove that, as far as the Hindoostanee lan- 
guage is concerned, every object of" construction and orthography " 
is more effectually answered by the use of the Roman than of the 
Persian letters, and that with regard to the question between the 
Homan and Nagree letters, these ends are at least equally an- 
swered by both, but without replying to my arguments, Mr. Prin- 
sep has now made a contrary assumption. 

But " construction and orthography" are only a very insignifi- 
cant part of the question. The object of language is to impart 
knowledge and whence is this to be derived, for the Hindoostanee 
language does not contain it at present in any recorded shape ? 
Mr. Prinsep would marry the Hindoostanee to the Persian lan- 
guage by maintaining the Persian character for both and encourag- 
ing the study of the Persian language ; while I, on the other hand, 
would form a close union between the English and Hindoostanee 
by using the English character for both, and encouraging the study 
of the English language. The beau ideal of a place of education 
according to the gentlemen who think with Mr. Prinsep, is the 
Mahomedan College, where the youth of India are bribed, by the 
offer of excessive emoluments, to imbibe systems of error, which 
we all know have been exploded, and their falsehood demonstrat- 
ed ages ago. The astronomy of Ptolemy, the medicine of Galen 
and Hippocrates, and the logic of Aristotle ! Although we should 
scorn the idea of English youth being even permitted to waste 
their time upon such studies, yet the children of this country are 
not only allowed to do so, but extraordinary advantages are of- 
fered to those who can be induced through the influence of such 
motives to devote the best years of their lives to them. A system 
of education which we should never for a moment think of using 



ourselves is considered quite good enough for our Indian fellow- 
men and fellow-subjects. I will never cease to protest against 
this wilful murder of the minds and time of the youth entrusted to 
our charge. Was there ever such a thing heard of in any other 
country in the world as that rewards should be held out for the 
propagation of falsehood far exceeding in liberality any that are 
offered for the cultivation of truth ? At the Mahomedan Col- 
lege the youth are seduced into the study of Ptolemy's Astronomy 
by a bribe which costs the state more than 30 Rs. a month, while, 
at the Hindoo College, they get nothing for studying Newton and 
have to pay besides ! I have often admired the good sense of the 
Hindoo community of Calcutta who long ago rejected the absurd 
system of education which the then existing Government held out 
for their acceptance and established the Hindoo College at their 
own expense. 

Mr. Prinsep says with great propriety, " those whom we in- 
struct in English are to be the pioneers and interpreters of this 
peaceful and insensible invasion.' 7 The natives of the country, 
those whose mother tongue the vernacular idioms are, must be the 
translators, the noble artificers of the literature which will hereafter 
constitute the medium through which the treasures of knowledge 
will be laid open to the mass of their countrymen. A moderate 
acquaintance with a foreign tongue suffices to enable a person to 
collect the sense which is to be translated ; but a far more perfect 
knowledge of a language than a foreigner is generally able to ac- 
quire is necessary to write successfully in it. 

So far Mr. Prinsep and myself are quite agreed, but then comes 
the question how the future translators are to acquire such a taste 
for science and such an acquaintance with its principles as will 
qualify them for the great work in which they are to be engaged. 
Mr. Prinsep would have them all taught Persian, but, unless it 
be intended to contaminate the popular languages with such pol- 
luted streams as the Mahomedan College youths are taught to 
rejoice in, which is not the case, I cannot imagine how this plan 
can forward the end in view. The youth cannot learn two foreign 



39 



languages. Even in England where the state of society admits of 
more leisure and consequently of education being carried further 
than is the case in this country, not one young man in a thousand 
obtains a tolerable acquaintance with more than one foreign lan- 
guage, and in India, where fathers are generally anxious to put 
their sons out in life at 16, it is quite out of the question. They 
cannot be expected to learn both Persian and English. To which 
therefore are they to be encouraged to give their attention in pre- 
ference ? Mr. Prinsep says Persian. I say English. Transla- 
tions of books on European science are every day put forth by the 
young men who have been educated at the Hindoo College, and 
let Mr. Prinsep point out a single such translation which has been 
accomplished by a person educated principally at the Mahomedan 
College where Persian and English are joined in monstrous con- 
nection. As Persian and Arabic literature form the principal 
subject of their studies, this class of people do not possess the ne- 
cessary qualifications to become translators of European science. 
They are only able to propagate the corrupt and erroneous Persian 
system by means of such translations as the Khulela Dhumna and 
Bagho Behar. 

It is quite a mistake to suppose that a knowledge of Persian is 
" essential for the business of the lives" of the rising generation. 
The only reason why English does not at once take the place of 
Persian in the Courts of Justice and other offices of Government 
is, because a sufficient number of persons qualified in the English 
language are not at present procurable. Those fathers who are so 
besotted as to teach their children Persian will hereafter lament 
the inferiority of their own offspring to the children of their neigh- 
bours who had sense enough to perceive the signs of the times and 
to give their sons an English education, and they will grieve at 
the recollection of the invaluable years, never to be recovered, 
which have been thrown away in studying a language the learning 
of which is a system of error; the style of which is so depraved 
and servile as to be quite unfit to form an habitual medium for 
the expression of the sentiments of British subjects, and in favor of 



40 

which the utmost that can be said is that it is spoken in Persia, and 
contains some pretty poetry, which for the most part is very im- 
moral. The recommendation that it is necessary for the transac- 
tion of business only applies to those who are now practising in the 
Courts. Five years hence the case will be very different, and 
instead of being considered as a qualification, the very reverse will 
be the case. It will be regarded as a strong presumption against 
the general fitness of a person for office that he has had a Persian 
education, and I should not wonder if farseedan (a knower of 
Persian) were to grow into a byword and stigma before ten years 
pass over our heads. 

I beg leave to call the attention of the Committee to what Mr. 

Prinsep calls " the unchangeable Xj m " Now let us consider in 

how many ways this unchangeable combination of letters can be 

pronouncedjjj Jj jj Jjj JJj ^Jj^Jj ^^ r > nigar, nu " 

gir, nugoor, nigoor, noogur, noogir, and so forth. And I contend 
that nugur deserves the epithet of " unchangeable" much better 
than this. From a reference to Mr. Thompson's scheme of vow- 
els it will be seen that in his book u is invariably used as in purse, 
and, when the system comes more into vogue, the same uniform 
plan, or another equally good, will be pursued. The Sanscrit is a 
better character than the Persian, but it is much less known to the 
class of Native youth in Upper India who will use Mr. Thomp- 
son's Dictionary than the English is ; besides which, I must recall 
the attention of the Committee to the strange and unaccountable 
notion of forcing another character besides the Roman into the 
Dictionary when it is not in the least required for the assistance of 
the Student. He must read the English column in Roman cha- 
racters at any rate, and if he has a sufficient acquaintance with 
them to be able to do this, he will of course be able to read his 
own language in the same characters with much greater facility. 
An apology is due from me to the Committee for taking up so 



41 

much of their time. The serious importance of the subject is my 
excuse, and I hope it will be deemed sufficient. 

(Signed) C. E. TREVELYAN. 
February 4th, 1834. 



MR. TYTLER'S REPLY TO MR. TREVELYAN. 

To the Editor of the India Gazette. 

Sir, 

I am not fond of professed newspaper controversy. I engage 
in it now, as thinking that, besides what is due to myself, some- 
thing also is due the Committee of the School Book Society in 
explanation of that minute of mine respecting Mr. Thompson's 
English and Oordoo Dictionary, which is commented on at so 
much length in your papers of January 28th and 29th. Had this 
comment been confined to my opinion given in to the Society, I 
should have replied to it only in the regular circulation of the 
Society's box, but as it has a reference also to my employments 
under the Committee of Public Instruction and to a variety of 
extraneous matter besides, it becomes necessary for me to adopt 
another mode of communicating my sentiments. Want of time 
prevented my doing this sooner. 

I shall begin by observing that the minute in question was 
communicated by me to the members of the School Book Society 
in confidence : I had not the least idea of its ever going further, 
and do not see what advantage can accrue to any party from its 
publication. 

I shall not enter here into the merits of Mr. Thompson's work, 
but confine myself to a brief consideration of a few of the other 
topics touched on in Mr. Trevelyan's minute. 

The first of these is the revival of the old project for printing 
Oriental books in Roman characters. Most people, I believe, 

F 



42 

supposed that after the ponderous volumes on this subject with 
which Dr. Gilchrist so long afflicted the public, the subject had 
been pretty well set at rest, and that the worthy Doctor had fully 
succeeded in demonstrating the utter impossibility of his own sys- 
tem. As, however, it appears that the plan is proposed to be 
revived, and the School Book Society are called upon publicly, 
and upon principle to grant their approbation and patronage to 
works thus formed, it becomes my duty, as a member of the So- 
ciety, to enquire how far they are likely to advance their own re- 
putation, or to benefit the public by so doing. 

I shall admit thus much, that a short Vocabulary of the kind 
may be useful enough to a fresh arrived Griffin in enabling him to 
give a few common orders to his servants ; but surely this is not a 
want which the School Book Society was instituted to supply. 

The printing of Oriental books in Roman character must be 
either to enable Europeans more easily to learn the Oriental lan- 
guages, or to enable Orientals to read them with more facility. 

As to the first of those objects : I should ask, upon what prin- 
ciple can it rationally be expected that a person who has not per- 
severance enough to learn the letters of a language should ever be 
able to learn the language itself. We might as reasonably pro- 
pose carrying a student through the Principia who declared him- 
self unable to master the multiplication table. The letters are 
most assuredly the easiest part of every language, and he who de- 
clares himself willing to learn the rest, though he cannot or will 
not learn these, in truth declares that though he is not able to lift 
five seers, he is yet quite willing and capable to lift five hundred. 

Next, as to the advantages which the Orientals are to derive 
from this scheme : it is certain that of all the parts of our language 
its alphabet is the most unfortunate to select as fit for transplanta- 
tion to the East; since, however much and however justly we may 
admire the other properties of the English tongue, it is utterly im- 
possible to admire its orthography. Our alphabet is at once so 
redundant and deficient, so barbarous and unscientific, that its 
substitution for the Arabic or Sanscrit, far from being an advance 



43 



in intellect, would be a decided retrogression. For this the reason 
is easily assigned. The European alphabets have not, like Eu- 
ropean sciences, been formed and successively improved through a 
long course of ages of increasing intelligence : they were formed 
in times of the darkest ignorance, and have remained unchanged 
and unimproved since then. They are, as might be expected, 
radically imperfect ; and to add to the confusion, while the pro- 
nunciation of European languages has gone on altering, the ortho- 
graphy for the last three hundred years has remained nearly un- 
changed. The consequence of all is, that the spelling of English 
and French at least, is so capricious, and the words written bear so 
little resemblance to the words pronounced, that no one could 
tolerate our orthography but those to whom it has been familiar 
from their cradle ; and in fact any unprejudiced person taking up 
Walker's Dictionary and comparing the written with the pro- 
nounced words, will find scarcely a single letter in all our Christ 
Cross Row of which the sound is ascertained, and will be apt to 
think our system more allied to Chinese arbitrary nwks than to 
alphabetic spelling.* 

It is certainly extremely difficult to see what advantage the 
Natives can derive from having a system forced upon them so im- 
perfect and so much less precise than their own. 

Besides, there are a number of sounds in the Oriental languages 
which no Roman letters and no combination of Roman letters can 
express, and which no two persons will agree in their mode of 
representing. The whole question, then, may be dismissed as an 
unprofitable discussion, till it be decided according to whateystem 
the Oriental words are to be written. Without this it is odds that 
if twenty different books were printed by as rflany persons, almost 
each word would be found spelt in twenty different ways, not one 
expressing the true sound. The sum of the whole is, that our let- 



* Instances of this are too familiar to require enumeration, but we may take as 
an example the words rite, write, right, wright, which all have the same sound, 
but whose spelling sets system at defiance. 

F 2 



44 



ters were never intended for their languages, and therefore cannot 
express their sounds.* 

In what Mr. Treyelyan says of the Greek and German and 
Russian alphabets, Re confounds two things essentially different ; 
— the shape of the letters and the system of the alphabet ; the one 
a matter of very little importance, the other the whole basis of the 
dispute. The English printed and written characters, their capi- 
tals and Aeir small letters, are all different ; yet it will not be 
affirmed that they are different alphabets ; they are all formed on 
the same "system and represent the same sound. In the same man- 
ner, though the" Roman, the German, and the Greek, (I am not 
acquainted with the Russian), are a little different in shape, the 
principal, and fry far the, majority of sounds in all, are the same ; 
and it is a matter of little consequence whether to express the same 



* I shall here support myself by the authority of the " master of thirty legions." 
In a list of native names now before me, issued from the Adjutant General's Office, 
I find the simple appellation If- expressed in the following modes, Ali, Allee, 

Ullee, Allie. And in the same way another word thus : Shekb, Shaickh, Shaick, 
Sheick, Shaikh, Shaik: which of these is to be adopted in our Roman Oriental 
alphabet? Not one of tkeiy" expresses the right sound except the last but one, 
Shaikh, and that will only do so by giving kh a sound which it never has in Eng- 
lish, that is of ch in the Sot^i Loch, Buchan, or in the German Buch, and which 
no doubt is that of the Greek X. I shall also mentioj^another authority, who is 
not, I think, altogether to be despised. Not knowing whether Mr. Trevelyan ranks 
French in the class of barbarottS*and unintelligible languages, I shall venture to 
leave it untranslated. " On s'e^ffie a l'oreille, en apprenant les noms de la bouche 
des naturels du pays ; mais*l'oreille saisit mal les sons d'une langue inconnue. 
Ensuite on a voulu exprimer ces sons par la valeur que les lettres Latines ont dans 
la langue Anglaise ; et c'est la nne enterprise impossible et contradictoire en elle 
meme. L'orthographie ou plutot la scoliographie Anglaise n'a rien a demeler avec 
la prononciation ; elle est historique, elle designe la prononciation d'un autre 
temps, alteree depuis. Beaucoup de lettres ne sont pas prononcees du tout; plu- 
sieurs consonnes ont un son different selon les mots ou elles sont employees. Deux 
voyelles homogenes significant souvent une voyelle diff'erente, et des voyelles sim- 
ples one dipthongue ; d'autres dipthongues ou voyelles longues sont exprimees par 
la reunion d'une voyelle et d'une semi consonne. D'ailleurs la langue Anglaise 
d'aujourd'hui abonde en voyelles qui n'ont pas de place bien fixe dans l'echelle 
musicaledes sons articules — Schlegel's Reflexions sttr V etude des Ungues Asiatiques 
addressees d Sir James Mackintosh. 



45 



sound we employ P, IP, or II ; L, It, or A. The same paral- 
lelism, however, by no means exists in the European and Oriental 
alphabets. The Oriental alphabets are not, like the European, 
literal, — they are syllabic ; that is, each element expresses not a 
simple sound, but a syllable. In English, for example, no con- 
sonant can be pronounced without the addition of a vowel. In 
Arabic and Nagree, on the contrary, each letter is a consonant with 
a vowel inherently combined : to use it as a simple consonant a mark 
must be added, indicating that the vowel is taken away. Which 
of those two systems is the best, is a question that would admit of 
long discussion : each no doubt, has its advantages and disadvan- 
tages. It is plain, however, that we are not to take it for granted 
that ours is the best, merely because it is that to which we are ac- 
customed. 

Mr. Trevelyan asserts that " the old German text is now almost 
entirely abandoned, and few new books are published in Germany 
except in the Roman character." On What he founds this asser- 
tion I am at a loss to know. I certainly was not aware of the fact 
as he states it : I have now before me (not a very old nor unpopular 
book) Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, published in the usual German 
character at Stuttgard in 1816, and by going into another room I 
could collect forty or fifty volumes of the same kind; while, I 
believe, I have not above two or three in the Roman : Mr. Tre- 
velyan will also find abundance of modern German periodicals in 
the Asiatic Society's Library. To settle this point, however, at 
once, I shall bring forward a more satisfactory authority than any 
in this country can be. " For this reason, many German works 
have, in more recent times, been printed in Roman type : that 
practice, however, is hitherto not become general, and the greatest 
number of publications continues to appear in the ancient habit ; 
and it is to be doubted whether that innovation would be of any 
advantage, if generally adopted. By disaccustoming the eye from 
the old type, many valuable productions of literature, unless re- 
printed, would be rendered less easy to read, and might be preju- 
diced in their general utility. Of late years, however, the dispo- 



46 



sition of disusing the character, and substituting for it the Roman 
letter, instead of increasing, has considerably diminished ; and I 
believe I am right in asserting, that now by far the greatest num- 
ber of German books is printed in the old type." — G. H. Noeh- 
den's German Grammar, fifth edition, 1827, pp. 18, 19. 

A few miscellaneous observations are to be made on the advan- 
tages which it is stated would result from using Roman characters. 
One is, that the vowels are expressed " instead of being either 
entirely omitted, (in the Oriental alphabets) or distinguished by 
diacritical* points." This is the case only to a very partial ex- 
tent. It is but the short vowels that are omitted in Hebrew, 
Arabic, and Persian, the long are all expressed. Both long and 
short are very accurately expressed in the Nagree and its deriva- 
tive alphabets. On the other hand, the Roman alphabet labours 
under the great disadvantage that it has no distinction between 
long and short vowels, and this in the accurate writing of words, far 
more than counterbalances all the difficulties of the Oriental ortho- 
graphy, f I omit the perfectly capricious and unaccountable 
manner in which the vowels and diphthongs and triphthongs are 
pronounced in English, as these must be obvious to every one, and 
are past defending. J 

With respect to the superior distinctness of the Roman letters, 

* Strictly speaking, diacritical points are the dots which distinguish several let- 
ters of the Arabic and Persian Alphabets. The marks for the short vowels zubur, 
zere, peshe, are vowel points. 

t What, for example, must a native medical student think of our orthography 
when he is taught to pronounce the o in Camphora and Cinchona so differently, or 
the i in Serratus Anticus, and Flexor Pollicis. If, to remedy this, we employ the 
prosodial marks of longs and shorts, this is the system of diacritical points which 
Mr. Trevelyan so much condemns. 

X English, it is known, wants the sound of the Italian and German u, that is the 
Persian peshe and the 5th Nagree vowel : this is a great defect which our attempts 
to remedy have been very unsuccessful. We employ at least ten different combi- 
nations of vowels to express a sound in itself perfectly simple. Thus o, u, eu, ew, 
oe, oo, on, ough, ue, wo, as in these words : to, flute, feud, new, shoe, too, soup, 
through, sue, two. There may be more that I don't recollect : the pronunciation 
of e defies all classification. 



47 

I must say this advantage appears to me wholly imaginary. No 
doubt in the books printed twenty or thirty years ago the cha- 
racters were very indistinct, chiefly I believe, from an injudicious 
wish of closely imitating the written hand. Since, however, that 
idea has been abandoned* and our books have been printed in the 
niskhee character, they have every year improved, and I cannot 
be persuaded that any one can find the least difficulty in reading 
the Arabic and Nagree typography of Mr. Pearce.f He who 
cannot learn these, must, I think, be unable to learn any charac- 
ters at all. Besides, there is no reason why we should not go on 
if necessary in our improvements in the Oriental printed letters, 
and form, in comparatively a very few years, a set of characters 
even more distinct than we have now. 

( Again : Mr. Trevelyan states that printing can be carried on \nrf\ 
Roman characters much cheaper and more expeditiously than in 
Persian or Nagree. This would be incontrovertible did the same 
number of Roman as of Oriental letters serve to express a given 
word. Every one, however, who has tried knows, that to express 
a given Oriental word requires many more Roman than Oriental 
letters; and conversely, to express the generality of European 
words, more Oriental than Roman characters are necessary. This 

* The chief supporter of this plan was Dr. Lumsden ; at least he mentions it, 
seemingly with approbation, in his preface to his edition of the first volume of the 
Shah Nameh. Of its disadvantages any one may convince himself in a moment, 
by comparing the broken and confused letters in that volume, with the distinct and 
elegant typography in Captain Macan's noble edition of the same work. 

I may observe, that for this great improvement in typography, I mean the dis- 
tinction between the written and printed character, we are, I imagine, mainly in- 
debted to the meritorious exertions of Dr. Rind. The honour of establishing the 
first Lithographic Press in India belongs to that Gentleman. Before his time we 
had no cheap way of giving any idea of the written character except through types, 
which it was necessary therefore to make so as to resemble manuscript: but that 
invaluable invention enables us now to copy any characters we please ; and we can 
accordingly employ Lithography when it is necessary to publish works in the 
viritten character, reserving our types to express the niskhee or printed. 

t The Natives consider some of Mr. Pearce's types so beautiful that, as he has 
informed me, they declared nothing should be printed by them but the Koran. 



48 



is a general principle through all parts of language : every transla- 
tion comprehends more words than its original. The letters of one 
language will not answer for those of another formed on a different 
system, and the words are never precisely parallel, to render them 
so, something explanatory must always be added. In attempting 
to write an Oriental language then in Roman letters, a great deal 
of room must be taken up, and the compositor's work increased. 
I am not prepared to say that this will actually make the Roman 
books dearer than the Oriental, but it will certainly much diminish 
their cheapness.* 

It is easy no doubt to call the Nagree and Arabic characters 
" barbarous :" that is an epithet with which all nations have been 
in the habit of honouring each other since the beginning of time, 
and generally those who have most deserved it, have been most 
liberal in its application.! The Mouluvees and Pundits have only 
to bestow, as no doubt they do, the same appellation upon our 
alphabets, and the argument is equal on both sides. But these 
surely are unfit expressions to be brought into a literary discussion : 



* To shew this I shall take the first book that comes in iny way — the opening 
sentence of Syud Auzumooddeen's English Grammar. 

Choon zauhir ast keh dur zumaun e quleel zoobaun e Faursee az tumaum e Hin- 
doostaun rookhsut khwahid shud lehanza. 

" As it is self-evident that in a short time the Persian language is to bid good 
bye to the whole of Hindoostan, therefore" — 

I cannot be accused of having employed too many characters ; yet on counting 
it will be seen that to express 60 Persian, 94 Roman must be employed ; that is 
more than one and a half for one. An inspection of this book will shew that to 
complete the scheme, it seems proposed to teach the Natives English in the Per- 
sian character, so that each language is to be disguised interchangeably in the let- 
ters of the other. This will no doubt be a vast step in the march of intellect. 

t " God curse these dogs, what a strange barbarous language they speak !" — 
Gibbon, chap. 51, A. D. 638. Such was the judgment of a conqueror on the lan- 
guage of Homer. The old Sclavonians, not understanding the language of foreign- 
ers, modestly concluded that all mankind but themselves were dumb. 



49 

they do little honour to the party using them, and are not likely 
to produce much conviction in the mind of his antagonist. No 
one who contemplates the ingenuity of the Arabic and Sanscrit 
orthography, will be induced to bestow such an epithet on the 
noblest invention of the human mind. 

Leaving this, however, as a matter of taste in argumentation, I 
shall go on to notice that Mr. Trevelyan speaks of " the many 
barbarous characters with which the country abounds." He 
surely must know that, with the exception of Arabic, they are all 
derived from Nagree, and in most cases with so little variation 
that any one who has mastered that, (which he may do in a week) 
may learn any other he chooses in three days, and at any rate, no 
one, I presume, unless he likes, need learn them all. One or two 
is generally sufficient for useful purposes. The difference between 
the various Hindoo alphabets is certainly not much greater than 
between our Roman and Italian, Writing and Old English cha- 
racters,* Capitals and Smalls, to say nothing of Greek, which 
altogether compose eight distinct and very dissimilar alphabets as 
far as the shapes of the letters go. 

To use Mr. Trevelyan's own words, "it is shocking to think 
how much human time, which may be directed to the best pur- 
poses, is wasted in gaining a knowledge of the barbarous charac- 
ters with which the British islands abound" — with this additional 
grievance, that in Europe our unfortunate infants are compelled 
to learn them all, while the happier youth of Hindostan have sel- 
dom to learn more than one. 

Admitting, however, the inconvenience to be as great as Mr. 
Trevelyan states, it is difficult to understand how this would be 
remedied by adding to the number, and bringing in upon the Na- 



* The reading of all these is not to be considered a matter of no moment : it is 
recorded to the honour of Johnson's first schoolmistress that she could do so. 
" He was," sajrs Boswell, "first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow, 
who kept a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could read the 
black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, a Bible in that cha- 
racter."— Boswell' s life in the beginning. 

G 



50 

tives a set of new characters totally incongruous and immiscible 
with the old. Mr. Trevelyan will not, 1 suppose, go the length 
of saying that the Natives are to be prohibited by a regulation of 
the Governor General in Council, from using their own alphabets 
in their letters and private concerns ; and as long as they continue 
to do so, — which will, in all probability, be longer than any of the 
present generation will have an opportunity to witness, — so long- 
will the Roman printed books instead of diminishing, add incon- 
ceivably to the confusion. 

It is not to be denied, however, that diversity of alphabets is, 
to a certain extent, an evil which it would be desirable to remedy, 
and the plan which the Committee of Public Instruction have gone 
upon, is as rational as any that can be devised. It is, to fix on some 
well known, distinct, and easily learnt character and employ that 
universally in printing. The Deb Nagree immediately suggests 
itself as that which of all others possesses these characteristics, and 
it is in that accordingly that the Committee's books are printed. 
This imposes on the Bengal, Tamool, or Orissa readers a task no 
greater, nor even so great, as to an Englishman that of learning 
the German letters after knowing the Roman or Italian, and this 
is surely not much to be complained of. 

Still, the whole subject has, I think, been invested with a dis- 
proportionate degree of importance, and the mole -hill in some 
measure exalted into a mountain. After all, the letters, as was 
said before, are the easiest part of every language : he who will 
not learn them, certainly will not learn the rest, and I cannot be 
persuaded that the bare learning of an alphabet is such a heavy 
imposition on youths of common capacity. On the contrary, I 
think a knowledge of different alphabetic systems is prima facie 
likely to be very beneficial in enlarging their views and improving 
their capacity. 

Mr. Trevelyan thinks that it would be desirable " to engraft 
upon the popular languages of the East such words as virtue, 
honour, gratitude, patriotism, public spirit, and some others, 
for which it is at present difficult to find any synonyme in them." 



51 



To me, on the contrary, it appears that the bare engrafting of these 
words would be a matter of very little moment ; it would only be 
a part of the system of teaching words instead of things, which 
unhappily prevails so much throughout Indian education. If 
indeed, we could infuse into the breasts of the Natives the ideas 
expressed by these words, this, I am willing to allow would be a 
real benefit,* but the bare teaching them the words is a very short 
step towards this object. Could we really succeed in teaching the 
virtues, we might safely leave the invention of the proper terms to 
the Natives themselves ; and whether in this case they were taken 
from a European or Oriental source, is scarcely worth while to 
consider. 

It may be right that I should here take some notice of the Delhi 
College which is spoken of so highly. Having no knowledge of 
its constitution, except what Mr. Trevelyan's minute affords, I 
can, of course, only speak from what appears there. I think it 
might be prudent to be moderate in its eulogiums till we see what 
sort of scholars it produces, and this more especially as the Alla- 
habad school, of which we heard so much sometime ago, has been, 
I am told, a complete failure. If it be really the case, as Mr. 
Trevelyan informs us, that the pupils of the Delhi College " have 
no acquaintance whatever either with the Nagree or Persian cha- 
racter. They know English as their language of education, and 
Hindostanee as their vernacular tongue ; but the only character 
with which they are acquainted is the Roman, and this they em- 
ploy to write both languages," one can scarcely conceive more 
helpless members of society than they must ultimately turn out, 
nor a system of education less likely to benefit its alumni. What 
would be thought of a proposal at home to teach English through 
the medium of the Persian characters ? Yet this, disguise it from 



* I say this to avoid the appearance of cavilling, but to confess the truth, there 
are more than one in Mr. Trevelyan's list of virtues which appear to me very sus- 
picious. For the whole I would venture to substitute, The Love of God and the 
Love of Man. 

G 2 



52 

ourselves as we will, is the plan on which, by Mr. Trevelyan's 
account, the Delhi College is proceeding. No doubt its success 
is possible, but the best disciple of De Moivre would be puzzled 
to calculate the infinitely small chances in its favour. All we can 
do is to hope that the pupils steal a march on their teachers, and 
learn in secret the characters which are prohibited to them pub- 
licly, so that at their coming out into the world they maybe able 
to read and write like their countrymen. 

Mr. Trevelyan tells us that the vernacular language of the Delhi 
students is Hindostanee. It would be desirable to know what 
that language is : the Natives are quite unacquainted with it, — 
they know no such language as Hindostanee. It is a word en- 
tirely grown up among Europeans, to supercede the old and ele- 
gant appellation of Moors, which is still to be found in the mouths 
of some Indians of the olden time. What Europeans mean by 
it, is I believe, the Rekhtu or Oordhoo. Now this Rekhtu is 
composed (like English) from three sources, Arabic, Persian, and 
the old Hindee, which last may be the mother, sister, or daughter 
of Sanscrit. But there is this difference, that Arabic and Persian 
enter into Rekhtu in a much greater proportion than either Latin 
or French into English. To talk, then, of using Hindostanee and 
abandoning Arabic and Persian, is a plain contradiction in terms ; 
and if Rekhtu be the language, (as no doubt it is) of the Delhi 
students, they must be, at this moment, using a large proportion 
of those very languages which Mr. Trevelyan pronounces dead, 
barbarous, and unintelligible.* 



* I draw this conclusion chiefly from Mr. Thompson's book, which Mr. Tre- 
velyan tells ns is intended for the Delhi pupils. A large proportion of its Vocables 
are pure Persian and Arabic. I do not mention this as matter of blame. From 
the nature of the language it must be so. 

In general, in Hindostanee the substantives are purely Persian and Arabic, and 
the verbs derivations with some alterations from Sanscrit. To give an idea of how 
those are combined, I shall take the first andmost simple of the " Pleasant Stories" 
contained in the first volume, p. 344, of the Hindostanee Selections used at the 
College of Fort "William, and substitute in it French words for Persian, Latin for 



53 



It is worthy of remark also, that the plan of having one verna- 
cular and one language for education is by no means well calculat- 
ed for mental improvement ; because it completely separates the 
objects of education from the affairs of common life. It was this, 

Arabic, and mark the Sanscrit derivatives by printing them in capitals. The story, 
(and its style cannot be called very complicated) is as follows : 

It is UNDERSTOOD that A quidam WENT to a certain monarque and BEGAN 
to MAKE prcetentionem de V inspiration. Le monarque ordonna that opus est mira- 
culi to un prophete. Do thou, SHEW one. HE REPLIED I WILL DO what- 
ever you TELL me, for I am prophete. At that tempus there was an IRON clau- 
strum in the HAND of le monarque. He SAID si thou art prophete, OPEN THIS. 
HE REPLIED, I MADE prcetentionem de V inspiration and not d'etre forgeron. 
At this saying, he BEGAN to LAUGH, and having GIVEN (a present) MADE 
tnissionem. 

Can it, I would ask, be reasonably said, that such a composition as this could 
be understood by those utterly ignorant of French and Latin, or that either of these 
languages was dead in a country where such a dialect formed the vernacular speech. 
Yet such is exactly the case with what is called Hindostanee. 

In the same manner to shew the connection between Bengalee and Sanscrit, I 
shall take a paragraph from the translation of the abridgement of Dr. Goldsmith's 
History of Greece by Khettro Mohun Mookerjea, which having been printed under 
the patronage of the School Book Society, and excessively praised by all the news- 
papers of the time, is to be considered, I suppose, quite classical : the passage I 
have taken is this : — 

" To counteract, however, the influence of a popular assembly, Solon gave 
greater weight to the Court of Areopagus, and also instituted another council con- 
sisting of four hundred. Before his time the Areopagus was composed of such 
citizens as were most remarkable for their probity and wisdom. But Solon now 
ordained, that none should be admitted into it but such as had passed through the 
office of Archon." 

The following is a re-translation of the Bengalee into English, in which Latin 
words are substituted for Sanscrit : it will appear that they are, if possible, even 
of more frequent occurrence than the Arabic and Persian in Oordhoo. 

Sed thus polentia of the populus could not receive magnam augmentationem* with 
this consilium Solon bestowed ingens onus administrationis on the conventus judici- 
arius nomine Areopeg ; and besides this he caused alter conventus consiliarius to be 
constitutus, in which there were four hundred consiliarii. Ante tempus administra- 
tionis Solonis, universi cives,* who on account of their fidelitas and sapientia had ob- 
tained famam, composed conventum of the Areopeg sed tempore admmistrationis 
Solonis; this was the mos* that none but those who had performed the munus of 
Archon could be conjunctus with this conventus. — p. 24. 

Such is the style of the Bengalee translations, which it is said are to be encour- 



54 



by universal confession, that kept Europe so long in a state of 
ignorance during the middle ages : all science was taught in Latin, 
while the people were speaking the modern tongues. The conse- 
quence was, no knowledge ever diffused itself among them, and 
whatever existed, remained shut up in the walls of the College. 

The great objections indeed to the exclusive use of English in 
education is, that it necessarily discourages the Natives from the 
cultivation of their own tongues. It puts an end to Native com- 
position and indigenous literature, and confines their whole efforts 
to a wretched and servile imitation of English models, than which 
nothing can possibly have a greater tendency to prevent improve- 
ment. As long as European literature was confined to Latin the 
attempts of our ancestors at composition, the far greater part of 
which are now deservedly forgotten, were forced imitations of the 
Classics. Their philosophy was nothing more than a jejune com- 
mentary on the imperfect system of the ancients, and their poetry, 
a cento in which the lines and half lines of the classical masters, 
taken from their original situations, are forced into new and unna- 
tural combinations. So it will be with the English productions of 
the Natives of India: their prose will be a mere patchwork of 
sentences extracted from the common-place English books with 
which they are acquainted, destitute of any effort of original 
thought, and their verse a bald imitation of Thomas Moore and 
Lord Byron. Such productions Europeans may now agree to 
praise and call wonderful specimens of Native poetic talent, but 



aged as being simple and intelligible. He who can understand the above without 
Latin will understand Bengalee without Sanscrit. It is worthy of remark, that 
short and easy as is this passage, there are in it three mistranslations marked by 
asterisks. The first is directly opposite to the original, which implies that there 
was danger, lest the power of the people should become too great : the Bengalee 
translation implies, that it could not become great enough. In the second, the 
original is, that the members of the Areopagus were chosan out of those eminent 
for probity and wisdom. The translation is, that all the men of probity and wisdom 
that could be found in the city formed the Areopagus. In the third, the original has 
it that Solon made a law : the translation states that a custom existed in Solon's 
time. How can we expect the Natives to learn from works so incorrect as this? 



55 



the next generation will assuredly reject them with astonishment 
that they were ever esteemed. All this, so far from enlarging the 
ideas, is the most effectual means of cramping the intellect and 
keeping it in perpetual trammels. 

I now come to that part of the Minute which more especially 
applies to myself ; and to prevent all misapprehension and appear- 
ance of self-contradiction, shall here endeavour to state clearly my 
opinion of Oriental literature, and the uses to which it may be 
applied. 

The first part of my literary creed, then, is this. Without de- 
nying that occasional scintillations of genius appear in the poetry 
and romances of the East, still I hold that they are greatly inferior 
to those of the West, and I also hold that Eastern sciences bear 
scarcely more proportion to those of Europe, than the first lispings 
of an infant to the ratiocinations of a man. 

If it then be enquired, what is gained by the study of Oriental 
literature ? — the answer divides itself into two parts : — first, the 
speculative ; next, the practical. The speculative advantages are 
those which a person of a contemplative and inquiring turn of mind 
derives from that most delightful of all purely mental pleasures, 
an increase of knowledge. In the present case the student of the 
Oriental languages enlarges his views as to the structure of lan- 
guage, the history and antiquities of nations, the sentiments of 
mankind in different ages and under different circumstances. As 
long as human nature is what it is, these subjects will continue to 
be interesting ; and he who attempts to blot them out from our view, 
so far from improving does what he can to degrade and dishonour 
our species. 

Besides this, though Oriental science is very inferior, I am by 
no means disposed to admit that it is worth nothing at all : many 
valuable hints may be gained from the labours of our predecessors, 
and many useful lessons learnt from their mistakes. The history of 
science is in many cases almost as useful as science itself. " There 
is no part of history so generally useful as that which relates to the 
progress of the human mind, the gradual improvement of reason, 



56 

the successive advantages of science, the vicissitudes of learning 
and ignorance, which are the light and darkness of thinking beings, 
the extinction and resuscitation of arts, and the revolutions of the 
intellectual world." — Rasselas, Chap. 30. 

All this must be lost, if we be determined to blot out from the 
world every vestige of ancient science, and monument of ancient 
learning. 

But the practical and great use of studying the Eastern lan- 
guages is to communicate with, and to instruct the inhabitants of 
the East. It is not what we find, but what we are to transfuse 
into these languages that is valuable, and it may be regarded as 
axiomatical in Native education that European knowledge cannot 
be extensively diffused among the natives of the East, unless it 
be translated into, and taught in their native tongues, and that 
their vernacular dialects cannot be understood thoroughly, nor 
used with propriety, without a knowledge of their learned lan- 
guages. That instances may be given of a few particularly clever 
individuals, such as the late lamented Rammohun Roy, who, 
with good opportunities, have acquired a considerable, or even 
very perfect knowledge of English, and used it as a means of ac- 
quiring information, is not to be denied ; but such rare exceptions 
take away nothing from the truth of the general rule. 

I shall make little reply to what is hinted of my aspirations 
after European reputation and a Professor's chair. Neither of 
these objects would be dishonourable if I had them in view, but 
it is not usual, I believe, now-a-days, to support a literary discus- 
sion, by the imputation of what are supposed to be improper mo- 
tives to an opponent. Such imputations are, no doubt, always 
easy, but experience proves that little is gained by this mode of 
argumentation. Upon this head, however, it is, if necessary, easy 
to clear myself : a twelvemonth ago, undoubtedly I did cherish 
the idea that after an absence of twenty-five years I might return 
to my native country, and then make what honest efforts were in 
my power to remain. Recent events have effectually cut off this 
prospect, and there is little likelihood that I shall ever have the 



57 

power of interrupting the canvas of any candidate for the chairs to 
which Mr. Trevelyan alludes. 

It is not easy to understand the sense in which Mr. Trevelyan 
so repeatedly asserts that Persian is a dead language in India. If 
that be a dead language the words of which are in every one's 
mouth, and in which a vast proportion of literary composition, 
periodical publication, and epistolary correspondence is carried on, 
and which almost all ranks above the very lowest speak and under- 
stand, then, no doubt, Persian may be ranked as such, but on no 
other terms. I will venture to say that for one Native letter writ- 
ten in the Rekhtu, which we call Hindostanee, there are at least 
fifty written in Persian, containing a large proportion of Arabic* 

According to Mr. Trevelyan's views, English and Hindo- 
stanee are " to go on together till they meet in a common lan- 
guage." Without enquiring too curiously what is meant by two 
languages going on together, the result is supposed to be that a 
new language is to be formed out of English, Bengalee, Hindee, 
&c, in the same manner as English itself was formed out of the 
various European dialects, or Spanish out of Latin, Gothic and 
Arabic. I do not say that in the various combinations of mun- 
dane affairs such an event is not possible, but it appears to me 
nearly as improbable as any can well be. Admitting, however, 
that it actually does take place, still little advantage will be gain- 
ed unless the whole inhabitants of the British empire can be pre- 

* One can scarcely suppose the Editors of Native newspapers so blind to their 
own interest as to publish in a dead unintelligible language ; yet all the Moham- 
madan newspapers are invariably in Persian, mixed with a very large quantity of 
Arabic. What would be thought of a project at home for publishing a newspaper 
in Latin or Greek? yet this is what the Native Editors, by Mr. Trevelyan's ac- 
count and to use his expression, are besotted enough to do here. To accumulate 
authorities in proof of the common use of Persian by the inhabitants of India, is in 
fact, like accumulating them to prove that they commonly use rice for their food or 
cotton for their clothes. I may, however, mention just one more. The pupils of 
the Native Medical Institution, — persons certainly of no very high education, — 
keep a case book of the symptoms and treatment of the sick on the establishment. 
The language of this is left entirely to their own choice, and they uniformly write 
in Persian. 

H 



58 

vailed on to unlearn their present language, and to learn Hindosta- 
nee in exactly the same proportion as Hindostanees learn English. 
Without this the languages must still remain distinct, and the 
speakers unintelligible to each other. The transposition even of 
thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of words, from one language 
to another, is not enough to render it intelligible. Thousands of 
words are common to French and Italian, to English and German, 
yet a Frenchman will not understand an Italian, nor an English- 
man a German ; and by Mr. Trevelyan's account, Arabic and 
Persian are unintelligible in Hindostan, though tens of thousands 
of their words are used in the common language. 

This result, however, Mr. Trevelyan allows is not to take place 
" till after successive generations." What are we to do in the 
mean time ? Are we to sit idle till perhaps after Herschel shall 
have performed some centuries of revolutions this amalgamation 
of languages actually takes place. Miss Martineau furnishes an 
answer in her last publication — " Nature is slow in her workings ; 
and since the life of man is short, his business is to work with her, 
not to wait for her." — Home's abroad. 

So it is here ; we are not to wait for new languages that may 
possibly spring up, — it is our business to make use of those at pre- 
sent existing. 

I shall not undertake to defend the licentiousness of Sanscrit 
literature, except to observe that it is a fault unfortunately common 
to it with the literature of many other nations, which it is rather 
a violent remedy to propose curing by absolutely abolishing the 
Sanscrit language. These are not the measures by which moral- 
ity is to be advanced : it is not the destruction of Sanscrit liter- 
ature, but the eradication of impure affections at which we ought 
to aim, and as long as these are suffered to exist, there will never be 
wanting immoral books in all languages. Upon Mr. Trevelyan's 
principle, French should be strictly prohibited, as that language 
contains abundance of immoral books. The plan of getting rid of 
Sanscrit immorality by the destruction of the whole of Sanscrit 
literature and language, is like that said to be practised in the 



59 



Papal dominions for the extermination of robbers : when they are 
suspected to be residents in a town, they are not themselves sought 
out for punishment, but orders are given for the destruction of the 
whole town altogether. 

I now come to the statements made respecting my translations : 
it is true that I have translated into Arabic Hooper's Anatomist's 
Vade Mecum ; that I have also translated his Physician's Vade 
Mecum; that I have also translated Crocker's Land Surveying, 
(though this was not a work of my choosing, but that of the Com- 
mittee) ; and it is also true that I have translated the half of the 
first volume of Hutton's Course of Mathematics, and would have 
translated the whole had I been allowed. All this is true, and 
I am proud to think that it has been in my power, under Provi- 
dence, to execute works, certainly not dishonourable to myself, 
and so useful to the Oriental world, and to enrich their languages 
with such a valuable fund of knowledge. Committees may alter, 
Governments change, and Colleges decay — but a well translated 
book, when once given to the world, can never lose its value or 
cease to be useful. 

My remuneration, however, has by no means been 400 Rs. a 
month : from this is to be deducted the expence of Mouluvees, 
(which were always the best in my power to procure) copyists, 
writers, books, paper, and numerous et caeteras, the minimum of 
all which was 150 Rs. a month, leaving me never more than 250, 
and this cannot be called a very exorbitant sum for a labour which 
they only can judge of who have tried it, and by which I nearly 
ruined my health at first commencing. 

If it be asked why no more Oordhoo or Bengalee translations 
have been made — the answer is short : because no adequate mea- 
sures have been taken for the purpose. ISTo European can under- 
take to translate without incurring a monthly expence of from 100 
to 150 Rs. for Native assistants : if he calculates on less, he only 
deceives himself and deceives his employers. It is not natural 
to suppose that any one would make this outlay without some 
prospect of remuneration. Where this does not exist the business 

H 2 



60 



has been left chiefly, if not entirely, to Natives, who look for re- 
muneration to the printing of their own works at their own presses, 
and the sale of a certain number of copies to the Committees con- 
nected with Native education. How translations thus undertaken 
have been executed has been explained in the letters of ££* which 
need not therefore be repeated here. No one, I believe, has ever 
praised, except those who have not read them. 

The labourer is worthy of his hire. Good translations, like 
every thing else that is good, to be had, must be paid for. He 
who pretends to undertake gratuitously a task that requires so much 
previous study, so many qualifications, and so much labour, acts 
like the Sircar who professes himself willing to serve Master 
without wages, purely for the honour of doing so. This kind of 
service is too well known to be infinitely the dearest of all. To 
have good translations, the Committee should make up their minds 
as to the books which they require, the languages in which they 
want them made, and the remuneration they are willing to give. 
They should then ascertain that the person who undertakes the 
work has a sufficient knowledge first, of the science which forms 
the subject of the book ; secondly, of the language which he is to 
translate into ; thirdly, of the principles of translation and the art 
of adapting English books to Oriental readers ; and lastly, they 
should require from him a moderate specimen of the manner in 
which he is to execute the work. This should be examined by a 
qualified Committee, who should be requested to give their opin- 
ion unbiassedly after an actual perusal of the specimen and com- 
parison of it with the original, it being understood that they are to 
have full liberty of speech, and that the opinions of the individual 
members are to be confidential and not liable to be published to 
the world without their consent. These restrictions would no 
doubt diminish the quantity of Bengalee and Oordhoo translations 
with which the Calcutta presses now groan, but most assuredly 
they would greatly improve the quality. 

As my notions respecting the principles on which an Oriental 
Dictionary should be compiled, are (as Mr. Trevelyan justly re- 



61 

marks) identical with those of @F«* it would be needless to repeat 
them here, and I shall make no farther observation on Mr. Thomp- 
son's book except that, without the least wish to derogate from its 
merits, I cannot think it (as Mr. Trevelyan seems to do) sufficient 
for the use of the Natives. In my opinion the labour of a whole 
life of the profoundest study would scarcely suffice and might be 
well employed in such an undertaking ; and I shall assert, even at 
the risk of the imputation of whatever motives my readers may 
choose, that no measure could be more creditable to Government 
nor more useful in itself, than the employment of a body of well 
qualified men in the compilation of such a work.f To expect a 
private individual to undertake this is quite absurd : he would ruin 
his fortune and health before getting through the first letter. 

I may here notice a publication of this kind that does indeed 
deserve commendation, that is the Murathee and English Diction- 
ary by Captain Molesworth, and Lieutenants T. and G. Candy, 
lately published at Bombay. A perusal of the 16th and 17th 
pages of its preface will give some idea of the labour which these 
gentlemen have gone through so successfully and so meritoriously. 

To conclude this long discussion ; a good translation of the cir- 
cle of the sciences into Arabic and Sanscrit would be a boon of 



* This T is not German, as Mr. Trevelyan supposes, but black letter, or Old 
English. There is not, probably, a real German T in any of the Calcutta printing 
presses, and I am not therefore able to exhibit the difference ; but there are still 
some books extant printed in the barbarous hieroglyphics of that language, and if 
Mr. Trevelyan will take the trouble of looking into any of them, he will see the 
true figure of a German T. 

t I need not on this occasion mention the National Dictionaries compiled in 
Italy, France, and Spain, as instances in which Governments have not thought 
works of this kind unworthy of their notice. Barbarous as we may think the Chi- 
nese to be, and perhaps as they are, it is certain they have shewn themselves no 
barbarians in this respect, having long been in possession of the Imperial Diction- 
ary of their language, of which, as a national work, it appears from the accounts 
of it, they may justly be proud. In all probability the great Arabic Dictionary of 
the Qaumoon was compiled under the auspices of the well known Timoor or his 
rival Bajazet. The Indian Government would not be disgraced by imitating these 
Barbarians. 



62 



inestimable value to the Oriental world, and till we have accom- 
plished it, all our other efforts in Native education will be maim- 
ed and imperfect ; with whatever honour, to use Mr. Trevelyan's 
expression, the name of Lord William Bentinck may descend to 
posterity, I shall venture to assert that these honours would suffer 
no diminution, were it recorded that his administration had pre- 
sented the Natives with the key to the unbounded treasury of 
knowledge in the shape of this compilation, and widened the inter- 
course between the Eastern and Western world by the formation of 
a scientific system of the philology of their respective languages. 
I am, 
Sir, 
Your obedient servant, 

JOHN TYTLER, 
Member of the Committee of the School Book Society, 
for the examination of works in the Mohamma- 
dan languages. 

P. S. Since writing the above I have seen in your paper of the 
8th instant, Mr. Trevelyan's observations on Mr. Prinsep's second 
minute. It may be as well to make a few remarks on these, to 
avoid having to write on the subject again. 

One of the first of Mr. Trevelyan's observations is, that " we 
have to construct a literature for Upper India from the beginning." 
This matter I confess appears to me in a different light. It is 
not our business to construct a literature, but to assist and encour- 
age the natives to construct one for themselves, — and this can only 
be done by the cultivation of their own language. A National 
literature made by foreigners in a foreign language is a contradic- 
tion in terms ; English, I admit, ought to be an object, nay, even 
a paramount object in Native education, but a National literature 
they must construct for themselves in their own languages. 

I think Mr. Trevelyan should make farther enquiries before 
speaking contemptuously either of the medicine of Hippocrates or 
the logic of Aristotle. If he does, he will perhaps find that the 
medicine of Hippocrates is a very different thing from that with 



63 

which he seems to confound it, — the physiological theories of Ga- 
len. However low we may value the latter, the former will lose 
its value among medical men only when the human constitution 
shall cease to be what it is. The Madrasah would have little to 
fear from its critics could they accuse it of nothing worse than the 
study of the medicine of Hippocrates. I shall not pretend to be 
very profoundly versed in Aristotle's logic, but suspect Mr. Tre- 
velyan has not distinguished between the art of sylogistic reason- 
ing as invented by that philosopher, and the useless subtleties 
added to it by his commentators. Had he done so, he might 
perhaps have agreed in the opinion expressed by Fielding's Dr. 
Harrison, " that Aristotle was not so great a blockhead as many 
persons think who have never read him." 

Mr. Trevelyan informs us that the Delhi College youths cannot 
learn two foreign languages ;* and therefore of the two, he recom- 
mends English instead of Persian. I have already examined in 
what sense Persian can be called a foreign language in India, and 
shall therefore add only, that even supposing (though by no means 
allowing) that Persian is foreign, still Mr. Trevelyan's conclusion 
cannot be allowed without the most violent strain upon the mean- 
ing of that word. Strictly speaking, French and Chinese are 
both foreign languages in England, but can it be maintained that 
they are both equally foreign and equally difficult to acquire, and 
that an English school boy will find it equally easy to master 
either ? A little trial would shew that while a few months study 
will make him a very respectable French scholar, the labour of 
half his life might be hardly sufficient to gain even a moderate 
acquaintance with Chinese. So it is with Persian and English 



* This is no very high compliment to the Delhi College, and it would have per- 
haps been better had Mr. Trevelyan (to use an expressive Scotch phrase) " keepit 
his thoomb upon it." Boys at a common school at home learn Latin, Greek, and 
French, and they find no difficulty in adding to those, when required, Italian or 
German. Both French and Italian are, as a matter of course, learnt by every young 
girl of tolerable education. Nay, however shocking Mr. Trevelyan may think it, I 
have heard of some young ladies actually learning Latin besides, and helping their 
younger brothers to make their quotas of hex and pentameters. 



64 



here : a twelvemonth will be enough to enable a native to gain a 
very serviceable knowledge of the former, — eight or ten years will 
give but a broken and imperfect acquaintance with the latter. The 
one already composes three-fourths of their vernacular tongue, and 
its idioms and trains of metaphor are these to which they are ac- 
customed ; the other has not the slightest association with any of 
their ideas. 

I cannot see any mistake in Mr. Prinsep supposing " that Per- 
sian is essential to the business of the lives of the rising generation." 
Admitting the case to be as Mr. Trevelyan states, that " the only 
reason why English does not at once take the place of Persian in 
the Courts of Justice and other officers of Government is because 
a sufficient number of persons qualified in the English language are 
not at present procurable," (though this be evidently a petitio 
principii), still it is certain that Courts of Justice and Government 
Officers are by no means the greatest, and by no means the most 
important part of human affairs. Hundreds of thousands and mil- 
lions pass their lives very happily without any intercourse with 
either. Could the mass of private correspondence and private trans- 
actions be collected, the records of Government and of Courts of 
Justice, voluminous as they may appear, would shrink before it 
into insignificance. All this among the Mohammadans and a large 
proportion among the Hindoos is carried on in Persian, without a 
knowledge of which a Native at all above the lowest ranks must 
be quite helpless. Limited as my transactions are, I yet could 
manage to furnish Mr. Trevelyan with a large drawer full of let- 
ters and arzees on all sorts of subjects, of not more than three years 
old, written in Persian by choice from persons who know that I 
am equally ready to receive them whatever may be their language 
or character. There may be two or three Hindoostanee pieces in 
the collection, but so few as not to be worth mentioning, and even 
these are so full of Persian words and phrases, that the difference 
between the two languages is more nominal than real. 

As to the word Nugur, there is no doubt that it might be writ- 
ten and pronounced in all the ways Mr. Trevelyan points out, just 
as our village might be written vallage, villuge, vollige, vulloge, 



65 

and a dozen others. The only abatement is, that in Oriental cha- 
racters it never is written or pronounced in any way but one, and 
that no Native will hesitate for a moment in giving to it one inva- 
riable pronunciation, whereas its Roman representative actually is 
subject to all the capricious variations of spelling and pronuncia- 
tion which Mr. Prinsep represents. 

Of the general run of the Bengalee translations which issue in 
such numbers from the Calcutta press, I have given my opinion 
in two or three places, and need not repeat it here. I shall 
therefore only say that I think they should be read before they 
are printed ; or if this be too hard a condition, at any rate before 
they are praised. 

In spite of all that is written and said on the subject, it is lament- 
able to find the public in general still so ignorant of the real state 
of Native education. A writer in the Literary Gazette of Fe- 
bruary 15th, 1834, in describing the want of adequate editors to 
Oriental books, seriously informs us that, " the Hindoo College is 
rapidly bringing forward scholars who will unite a critical know- 
ledge of their own language to a very considerable skill in those of 
Europe." Had the writer of this article inquired, he would have 
found that the scholars of the Hindoo College learn no Sanscrit, 
and are unable even to read its alphabet. So far from having a 
critical skill in Bengalee, they declare they know nothing of its 
grammar, and don't understand the language so well as English. 
It is not very likely, therefore, they will ever give the important 
assistance to philologists, which the writer of the article appears 
to think they will be able to do. 

The other parts of Mr. Trevelyan's minute have been answered 
in the course of the present long letter. I shall therefore here take 
leave of the discussion, and trust he will pardon me for doing so, 
in a line and a half of a dead, barbarous, and unintelligible lan- 
guage :— 

e%$%ov he jaoi egiv 
Aung a^rfK(og e^rj^neva pudoKoyiusiv. 



66 



ON THE POSSIBILITY, THE PRACTICABILITY, AND THE EXPE- 
DIENCY OF SUBSTITUTING THE ROMAN IN PLACE OF THE 
INDIAN ALPHABET. 

( Extracted from the Calcutta Christian Observer for April, 1834.J 

The discussion respecting the substitution of the Roman in place 
of the Indian Alphabets has recently been revived, in consequence 
of the publication of Mr. Trevelyan's Minute on the proceedings 
of Education Committees in Calcutta. Mr. Trevelyan advocated 
the substitution : Dr. Tytler opposed it. The Minute of the for- 
mer is the exposure and appeal of a sweeping reformer and ardent 
philanthropist : the rejoinder of the latter, with the exception of a 
few awkward attempts at sarcasm, is the production of a sober 
minded gentleman and accomplished scholar. 

It is not my present intention to follow the remarks of either of 
these. Long before the recent discussion arose, the subject in dis- 
pute was forcibly brought home to my own mind, in connection 
with various plans for the amelioration of the people of India. 
And the result of my own inquiries was a decided conviction in 
favour of the views that have been so ably propounded by Mr. 
Trevelyan. 

The subject I conceive to be one of far greater importance, in 
the present stage of native improvement, than most people are 
willing to admit, or rather than those who have not made it an 
object of study, are capable of comprehending. On this account, 
I should rejoice to see the whole question traced in all its bear- 
ings — to see it agitated in the public press, and presented in every 
possible form to the public mind. With the view of adding my 
mite to the general cause. I shall now furnish a few facts, and offer 
a few cursory observations. 

I. Is the proposed substitution possible ? 

One party replies, yes : and another, no. Those who answer 
in the negative dwell chiefly on the circumstance that, in the Ori- 
ental languages, there are peculiar sounds, i. e. sounds unlike any 



67 



which occur in the languages of the West. How then, ask they 
triumphantly, can these sounds be represented by Roman charac- 
ters ? Now, it must be owned that if these characters were of the 
nature of pictorial delineations, like the Mexican paintings now 
to be found in the Bodleian library; or of the nature of expressive 
symbols, similar to the Egyptian hieroglyphics ; or of the nature 
of verbal representations, like the encyclopaedic letters of China ; 
— it would not be easy to divert them into new channels. But the 
case appears totally different when we find that alphabetical cha- 
racters, like the Roman, are merely arbitrary or conventional 
signs of sounds, i.e. any character, bearing as it does, no resem- 
blance to the sound itself, may become the sign of any sound. All 
that is required is, that there be a mutual understanding amongst 
those that employ a letter of any figure, as to the sound which 
such letter is intended to represent. 

Since then all letters are, or ought to be, the arbitrary signs of 
certain elementary sounds, and since, in all languages, the greater 
part of the elementary sounds are the same — it follows that the 
greater part of the alphabetic letters of any language may be di- 
rectly represented by Roman characters. Next, as to peculiar 
sounds, it may often be found, as in the Indian languages, that they 
are not radically diverse from all that find a place in the languages 
of the West. That which is said to be peculiar in the former, 
maybe only some particular modification of an elemental sound 
that enters essentially into the latter. The difference, instead of 
being a radical one, may be only a difference in the tone, time, or 
mode of enunciating the same elementary sound. In this case, the 
Roman character, with some mark, above or below it, would, if 
agreed on by mutual consent, sufficiently distinguish the peculi- 
arity. 

This was the deliberate opinion of Sir William Jones ; and as 
his authority ought to weigh much with even the profoundest ori- 
entalists, I shall here quote his words. " By the help, says he, 
*' of the diacritical marks used by the French, with a few of 
those adopted in our own treatises on fluxions, we may apply our 



68 

present alphabet so happily to the notations of all Asiatic lan- 
guages, as to equal the Deva Nagari itself in precision and 
clearness ; and so regularly, that any one, ivho knew the original 
letters, might rapidly and unerringly transpose into them all the 
proper names, appellatives, or cited passages, occurring in tracts 
of Asiatic literature.''^ 

So positive and unhesitating an opinion, delivered by such a man, 
may be reckoned decisive of this part of the subject. But if any 
lingering doubt still remain as to the possibility of representing all 
peculiar sounds by means of Roman letters with diacritical marks, 
there is still the expedient of effecting this end by particular com- 
binations of letters. Without reverting to the excessive simpli- 
fication of Wachter, who maintains that ten distinct characters 
would suffice to express all the elementary sounds that belong to 
the human organs ; or to the more moderate opinion of Harris, who 
declares that " to about twenty plain elementary sounds we owe 
that variety of articulate voices which have been sufficient to ex- 
plain the sentiments of such an innumerable multitude of all the 
past and present generations of men ;" let us adopt what some 
would reckon the still more reasonable conclusion of Bishop Wil- 
kins, that 34 separate characters would be requisite for the purpose, 
and what follows ? That the Roman alphabet, being both defec- 
tive and redundant, could never be made to express the sounds not 
peculiar to it ? No such thing. Let any one consult the Bishop's 
alphabetic table, and if not satisfied with the extension of Roman 
letters with diacritical marks to denote all peculiar sounds, he 
cannot fail to be convinced that the object can be fully and satis- 
factorily accomplished, by an appropriate combination of two of 
the existing letters. 

It is a mere fallacy to talk of the inadequacy of simple Roman 
letters to express certain peculiar sounds. No one has said that, 
barely and nakedly by themselves, unaccompanied by any mark 
or uncompounded, they can. What has been alleged is that the 
majority of Indian letters can be represented directly by cones- 
ponding Roman characters, and that the remainder can be ade- 



69 



quately represented by Roman characters with diacritical marks, 
or Roman characters suitably combined. 

And after what has now been advanced may I not fairly con- 
clude that such representation is in all respects possible ? 

II. Admitting the possibility of substituting Roman charac- 
ters, under certain prescribed conditions, in place of all the Indian 
letters, the next question is, can such substitution be held to be 
practicable ? 

Those who regard it as impracticable, generally ask in a tone of 
defiance, Has such a thing ever been done — has such a thing been 
known or heard of? 

Now, I may surely assert that, though we could not appeal to 
a single example in the history of the past, this would be a sorry 
argument. While I hold the maxim to be a sound one, that 
" what man has done, man may do again," — I must hold it to be 
at once unsound and injurious to lay down the principle that " what 
man has not done, man cannot do." And yet this is the princi- 
ple, on which in the present instance much of the opposition, on the 
score of impracticability, rests. The argument put in plain terms 
amounts to this : 1st, " No people ever employed the characters 
of a foreign language to express the ordinary and extraordinary 
sounds of their own : therefore, the attempt to accomplish this is 
not practicable :" 2d, " No people ever substituted the appropriate 
characters of another language in place of those peculiar to their 
own: therefore, the attempt to accomplish this is not practicable." 
This is palpably very bad reasoning, since if allowed to be valid, 
it would lay an arrest on all possible improvement. Applied to 
the inventor of the steam engine, it would stand thus : " No peo- 
ple ever made use of steam, as an impulsive force ; therefore the 
attempt to do so, is not practicable." And so of every other in- 
vention in art, and every discovery in science. In all these cases, 
and in all alike, would not the proper course of procedure be ; "Is 
the thing in itself possible ? is it, as to its object, desirable ? If 
so, let us make it practicable." 

But we have conceded too much to our opponents. Past his- 



70 



tory is not wholly a blank in respect of examples. And as facts 
seem to weigh with them more than arguments, or abstract possi- 
bility and desirableness, I shall indulge them with a few state- 
ments of facts. 

First. As to the employment of letters of one language to ex- 
press the peculiar sounds of another. 

The language of the Tongan Islands has various peculiar 
sounds ; and yet these have been successfully represented, by a 
judicious application of the Roman letters. 

The old Celtic, or G aelic language, which is nearly the same as 
the old Irish, and is still spoken universally in the Highlands of 
Scotland, has several peculiar sounds, i. e. sounds to which there 
are none perfectly similar either in the English, or in any other of 
the European languages, — and yet, these sounds have been success- 
fully expressed by Roman letters. No diacritical marks have 
been used. Only 18 of the Roman letters have been selected and 
by a skilful employment of these, not only the common, but all 
the peculiar, sounds in the language have been represented in a 
way that is perfectly intelligible to every Highlander. 

Ought not these facts to demolish the bugbear of impracticabi- 
lity on this head ? 

Second. As to the national substitution of one set of characters 
in place of another widely dissimilar in form. 

In Europe, these substitutions have been notoriously frequent 
from the earliest ages. 

Before the conquest of Gaul by Caesar, the old Gaulish letters, 
which somewhat resembled the Gothic, were alone used in that 
country. After the subjection of the Gauls to the Roman yoke, 
the letters of the conquerors, though extremely dissimilar, were 
universally introduced, and substituted in place of their own. 
Towards the close of the 6th century the Roman Gallic letters 
were again changed by the Francs, into what was called the 
Franco- Gallic, or Merovingian. This was succeeded, a few cen- 
turies afterwards, by the German mode of writing, which had 
been improved by Charlemagne. In the 12th and 13th century, 



71 

the modern Gothic, the most diversified, complicated, and bar- 
barous of all alphabets, supplanted the German letters. And at 
the time of the Reformation, the Roman once more usurped the 
place of the existing alphabet, and has ever since maintained its 
ground. 

In England the changes were not less numerous. At one time 
the German mode of writing prevailed ; at another, the Saxon ; at 
another, the modern Gothic, &c. and finally, the Roman. 

In different parts of Ireland and Scotland, similar dialects of 
the old Celtic language have been spoken for at least 18 centuries. 
There were peculiar letters, of a form distinct from that of other 
alphabets, to express all the elementary sounds of this ancient lan- 
guage. These letters have been used chiefly by the Irish Celts, are 
commonly known under the designation of the " old Irish charac- 
ter." Now, when, about a century ago, great efforts began to 
be made to improve the condition of the Scottish Celts, the alpha- 
bet that contained appropriate letters to express the ordinary and 
peculiar sounds of their language, was set aside, and the Roman 
notation of letters universally adopted. And in that character 
have all works ever since, without one single exception, been 
printed. 

Whether the practice be as yet uniform, I cannot tell, but I 
have also seen translations of the Bible and the confession of faith 
into the Irish dialect, published in the Roman character. 

In Spain, during the earliest period of its history, letters were 
used, somewhat similar to the Greek. After the Romans became 
lords paramount of the soil, they introduced the general use of their 
own letters. When the country was overrun by the Visigoths, 
they abolished the Roman and substituted their own very different 
form of writing. In the 11th century, by the decree of a Synod 
held at Leon, the alphabet of the Visigoths was superseded by the 
restoration of the Roman characters. 

In Italy, from the vicissitude of its fortunes, the mode of writ- 
ing was often changed. At one time, the Lombardic mode of 
writing entirely set aside the use of the Roman letters, being 



72 



adopted even in the Bulls of the Popes : at another, the modern 
Gothic, &c. 

Though in most of these cases, the forms of the letters were as 
widely different as can well be imagined, it may still be objected, 
however absurdly, that they all belong to the languages of the 
West. Of the people of the East, their languages, manners, cus- 
toms, &c. unchangeableness has been predicated ! 

In removing even this cavil, the following facts may be of 
some service : 

Who more tenacious of every thing Jewish, than the descen- 
dants of Abraham ? And yet it is generally allowed that the old 
Hebrew character, now known under the name of the Samaritan, 
was abandoned during the time of the Babylonish captivity, and 
that the Chaldaic form, which is vastly different, was substituted 
in its place, and has been ever since retained. 

Originally the Arabic alphabet, as asserted in the learned Dr. 
Hales' Analysis of Chronology, was the same as the Syriac, 
which differs as much from the modern Arabic alphabet, as it 
does from the Chaldaic and old Hebrew. This total change in 
the order and form of the Arabic letters took place about the 
commencement of the Mohammedan aera. 

The old Persian or Zend, which is said by Jones to approach 
to perfection, was superseded by the Arabic alphabet, which has 
been adopted by all nations that have embraced the religion of 
Mohammed. 

But, what some may think still more to the purpose, has not 
the Persian character been often practically employed in repre- 
senting Indian words, particularly in the Upper and Western 
Provinces ? And, vice versa, has not the Nagari character been 
employed in expressing Persian and Arabic terms ? The Oordoo, 
which is a compound of Persian and Indian words, has been re- 
presented indifferently by Persian or Nagari letters. And if so, 
why not this, and other Eastern languages by the Boman ?* 

* I have been told by a friend, who has derived his information direct from M. 
Alexander Csoma de Kbros, the celebrated Hungarian, who has thrown so much 



73 

Rather, if so many and such radical substitutions of one form of 
letters, for another totally dissimilar, have actually taken place in 
the West, and in the East, does not the voice of history loudly 
and emphatically protest against the baseless notion, that to sub- 
stitute the Roman, in place of the Indian letters, is impracticable ? 
Does not the testimony of experience, as it rolls along different 
ages and different countries of the world, perfectly demonstrate 
that such substitution is, and must be pronounced to be, in every 
point of view practicable ? 

III. On the supposition of the possibility and practicability 
of the proposed change, is it expedient to substitute the Roman, 
in place of the Indian letters ? 

Those who oppose the expediency of the substitution often argue 
thus: "Look at the English orthography; Jones himself pro- 
nounces it to be disgracefully, and almost ridiculously imperfect : 
Look, on the other hand, at the Indian orthography ; its precision, 
clearness, and regularity cannot well be surpassed : — would it not 
then be most inexpedient to disturb the beauteous order of the lat- 
ter by introducing the irregularities of the former ? and this sort of 
reasoning is backed by what some account a few good jokes and 
pithy sarcasms at the expense of our poor English orthography. 



light on the language and literature of Thibet, that the general structure of the 
Hungarian language is so very unlike the parent stock of any of the dialects of the 
west, and so exactly like the Sanscrit, that he doubts not the Hungarian and San- 
scrit are essentially connected as to their original source, if not, as Primitive and 
Derivative. And this conclusion, deduced from the striking similarity of structure, 
is greatly confirmed by the equally striking similarity in the names of the most com- 
mon objects. M. Koros is of opinion, that the Huns had undoubtedly an orginal 
alphabetic character of their own when they first invaded Europe, and that it was 
retained by them till their conversion to Christianity, when they adopted the Roman 
character. 

If this be the case, and the peculiar philological attainments of M. K. render his 
opinion worthy of the highest possible respect, what a remarkable corroboration 
does it afford of all that has now been advanced? A language possessing originally 
a peculiar alphabetic character of its own — and what is more, a language radically 
Indian in its structure and terms— has for ages been successfully represented by Ro- 
man characters ? 

J 



74 

But it will hot do to pass off this subject by mere orthographical 
jokes and sarcasms. There is a radical fallacy in the reasoning of 
these gentlemen. They suppose that we really wish to introduce 
the absurd anomalies of English orthography into the East, and 
without this supposition, their argument is good for nothing. Now 
this supposition is a most barefaced assumption. It cannot be 
conceded, because it is not true. We do not wish to see the ano- 
malies of English orthography incorporated with the languages of 
the East. Neither do we wish to see superfluous Homan charac- 
ters employed. If, in the East, one alphabetic letter uniformly 
represents one elementary sound, let the Roman letter substituted 
in its place be invariably appropriated to the expression of that 
sound. This is what we propose : and, in this way, I should like 
to know where a corner can be found for a single anomaly — or how 
the greatest possible clearness, precision, and regularity may not 
be attained ? In this view of the case, the potent arguments of 
our learned Orientalists must fall with deadly effect on their own 
false premises. 

If then the reasons usually urged against the expediency of the 
substitution be utterly groundless, let us now state a few reasons 
in favour of it. r 

1. The substitution is expedient, because thereby we should 
obtain an alphabet more perfect than any of our Eastern alpha- 
bets — more perfect even than the Deva Nagari. 

This may startle the idolizers of Sanscrit ; but nevertheless, it 
can be proved to be true. What are the requisites of a perfect 
alphabet ? Without specifying the whole I may remark that, by 
the common consent of the soundest philologists, the following are 
of the number : — As every separate elementary sound ought to 
have a separate character to express it, so none but separate ele- 
mentary sounds ought to have separate characters. Elementary 
sounds, radically the same, but differing somewhat in the tone, 
time, or mode of enunciation, ought not to have representative 
characters wholly different in form. 

Now, in both these respects, the Deva Nagari is exceedingly 
imperfect. 



75 



Consonant sounds, such as the two ds and the two ts marked by 
Jones d and d\ t and t\ though radically the same, and differing 
in the tone of pronunciation, are represented by characters totally 
different. 

Vowel sounds, such as the long and short a, the long and short 
, i, &c. which of course differ only in the time of their pronuncia- 
tion, are expressed by separate characters. 

Sounds not elementary, i. e. compound sounds, which ought 
surely to be expressed by a combination of the elemental or sim- 
ple sounds that compose them, are represented by separate letters. 
Of this description are all the aspirated letters, which form so 
large a proportion of the Deva Nagari and other Indian alphabets. 
Who can say that this is not a very unnecessary multiplication 
of alphabetic characters ? How vastly more rational and philo- 
sophical the simple expedient of having one clear mark, or letter, 
for the aspiration, which could be applied to all vowels and all 
consonants. This is the expedient, not less admirable in theory 
than convenient in practice, which has been resorted to in the Eu- 
ropean alphabets. And if, after this truly philosophical model, 
the Sanscrit and other Indian alphabets were framed anew, we 
should at once get rid of a great number of very superfluous cha- 
racters. 

2. It follows from this that the proposed substitution is expe- 
dient, because, by rendering the Indian alphabets more perfect, 
and thereby getting quit of many wholly useless letters, the com- 
plexity which at present characterizes these alphabets would be 
greatly diminished, and the progress of every learner in the same 
degree facilitated. 

3. The substitution is expedient, as it would remove one grand 
impediment to the free reciprocation of sentiment and feeling among 
the millions of Hindoostan. 

To illustrate this, let me revert to an example. If a book in 
Latin, English, French, Spanish and Italian were presented even 
to an unlearned Englishman, in the Roman character, he would 
readily perceive that numberless words, and roots of words, were 

J 2 



76 

the same in all ; and would conclude that the study of one, two, 
or more of these might be a comparatively easy task, in conse- 
quence of this palpable radical similarity. But were the book 
presented in Roman, Modern Gothic, Old Gaulish Visigothic, and 
Lombardic characters, he could scarcely be persuaded that under 
forms so wholly different there could lurk any similarity at all. 
And the study would be regarded a forbidding, difficult, if not, a 
hopeless one. So actually stands the case in India ; the number 
of dialects is immense : and each dialect must have letters of a 
different figure. Let then a specimen of each be presented to an 
unlearned Hindoo : what must be his conclusion ? — What can it 
be, except that his country abounds with totally different lan- 
guages ? And if so, the attempt to hold any communication with 
natives not of his own province, must be abandoned as hopeless. 
Now were the whole presented, in the same character, it would 
be seen and. felt that the natives are not divided into so many sec- 
tions of foreigners to each other — that they have all fundamen- 
tally the same language — and that without much difficulty a com- 
munity of interest and a beneficial reciprocation of thought might 
be effected to an extent at present unknown, and from the repul- 
sive aspect of so many written characters, deemed utterly imprac- 
ticable. 

4. It is expedient, as it would tend mightily to encourage the 
study of the English language. 

In the present state of things this is a matter of paramount im- 
portance. Of all earthly boons, the bestowment on a native of a 
sound English education, is beyond all question the highest and 
the noblest. It is by the quickening impulse of the knowledge to 
be derived through the medium of English that we are to expect 
the first awakening of the national mind from its present lethargy. 
Now by the universal introduction of Roman characters, every 
Hindoo might become familiar with them from infancy. The 
study of English would no longer be looked upon as entirely new, 
nor the language entirely foreign. It would appear in all respects 
more inviting : yea, it would allure thousands to engage in it who 
are now scared away altogether from the task. 



77 



5. It is expedient, as regards the enriching of the Indian lan- 
guages. 

If there must be an infusion of a vast number of new ideas into 
the languages of the East, ere the dense mass of the people can be 
elevated in the scale of moral and intellectual being, there must 
be a corresponding number of neiv terms to express these. Now, 
while it is conceded that the Indian letters are well suited to the 
expression of Indian sounds and words, every Orientalist must 
bear me testimony in saying, that they are very ill adapted to the 
expression of sounds and words in foreign languages. By the 
adoption, therefore, of Homan characters, the incorporation of new 
terms, implying an accession of new ideas, may go on indefinite- 
ly, without any difficulty, and without any confusion. 

6. The substitution is expedient, as it would save much valua- 
ble time and useless trouble to hundreds, and thousands, and tens 
of thousands of our fellow-creatures. 

It cannot be doubted that soon great numbers in every province 
from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, will be engaged in the stu- 
dy of English. These, of course, must become acquainted with 
the Roman character. Besides, it will always be the lot of many 
to study more than one of the Indian dialects. What a prodi- 
gious saving of time and trouble must it then be, to multitudes in 
every province of Hindoostan, to be possessed of one common al- 
phabet? Our great Orientalists, our Philological giants, I know, 
will convert this into a subject for derision or scorn, because they 
can master a new alphabet in a week : — but I cannot help it. In 
spite of their thundering canons, I must be allowed to assert, 
without fear of contradiction, that the majority of mankind cannot 
in the course of a week, acquire the same facility and speed in 
reading and writing a totally new set of alphabetic characters as 
they enjoy in reading and writing those with which they have been 
long familiar. No : such acquisition is generally the result not of 
five or six days' practice, but of at least as many months. Why, 
then, waste so much precious time upon nothing ? He who, in 
acquiring new languages or dialects, would voluntarily choose a 



78 



new set of letters for each, instead of adopting one already known, 
appears to me to act the part of the foolish traveller who, on 
reaching every new river, instead of availing himself of the esta- 
blished ferry-boat that awaited his arrival, would prefer lingering 
on the banks in order to construct a new one for himself, in which 
to cross to the other side. 

7. The substitution is expedient, as thereby a prodigious amount 
of expense will be saved to the community. 

It is a fact, that, from the intricacy — the complexity of most 
of the Indian characters, it is utterly impossible to reduce them 
to so small a size as the Roman may be, without rendering them 
altogether indistinct, or even illegible. In this way, twice the 
quantity of typal matter, twice the quantity of paper, and nearly 
twice the quantity of binding materials and labour, must be la- 
vished for nought. Now, considering that we have to provide 
books for a hundred millions of people, this surely is a considera- 
tion of too grave and important a nature to be overlooked. 

On the whole , I conclude from principle and not from preju- 
dice, in favour of Mr. Trevelyan's scheme. And not until the 
preceding facts are proved to be untrue, and the inferences un- 
sound, shall I cease to advocate the possibility, the practicabi- 
lity, and the expediency of substituting the Roman instead of 
the Indian Alphabets. 

ALPHA. 

P. S. To render this paper complete, a representation of the 
Nagari and Persian alphabets, (the two principal ones used in 
India) in Roman characters may be given in the next number of 
the Observer. 



79 



A SCHEME FOR REPRESENTING THE DE'VA NA'GARl' AND 
PERSIAN ALPHABETS IN ROMAN CHARACTERS. 

(Extracted from the Calcutta Christian Observer for May, 1834.,) 

It has been already shewn,* in a general way, that the substi- 
tution of the Roman in place of the Indian Alphabets, is as pos- 
sible and practicable, as it is unquestionably expedient. And it 
now remains to ascertain and exemplify the particular mode in 
which the substitution may be best effected. 

This is the more necessary at the present time, since different 
methods have been proposed by different men eminent for their 
talents, and profound as oriental scholars — and since inextricable 
confusion must ensue, unless those who advocate the contemplated 
change, agree as to some fixed and uniform system of notation. 

Whoever wishes for information relative to the earlier attempts 
by Davy, Williams and Halhed, to express Indian in Roman 
characters, is referred to the first volume of the Asiatic Researches. 
In the same volume is an elaborate account of the system adopted 
by the celebrated Sir William Jones. The labours of Dr. Gil- 
christ in this field are very generally known. Foster, Carey, 
Shakespear, Haughton, and others have also lent their aid in solv- 
ing the problem that regards the best practical method of adapt- 
ing the Roman to the Oriental alphabets — a problem for the most 
successful solution of which a premium has been held out by the 
Asiatic Society of Paris. 

All of those now named have adopted and applied, with more 
or less success, certain prosodial, accentual, or algebraic symbols. 
Recently, however, Messrs. Arnot and Forbes, in several valua- 
ble elementary treatises, published in London, have suggested the 
adoption of " a system of writing like the Hindee-Persi- Arabic, 



* See Page 66 : No. IV. of the Calcutta Christian Observer : the Courier of 
2nd April : the Hurkaru and Iudia Gazette of 3rd April : and the Englishman of 
the 4th and 5th April. 



80 



to which several Oriental nations have partly contributed, by 
calling in the aid of two or three of the European alphabets most 
generally known." Hence, an Italian letter, a Spanish letter, a 
Persian letter, and Greek letters have been intermixed with Ro- 
man letters. This may possibly be the readiest way of conveying 
to self-taught Europeans some idea of the sound of each letter ; 
but assuredly it is not the most comely to the sight, nor the most 
suitable in practice. 

On the whole, after the maturest consideration of the subject, 
it appears beyond all dispute, that Sir William Jones' system, 
with such alterations and modifications as experience has suggest- 
ed, is not only the simplest in itself, but the most convenient in 
practice, as well as the most susceptible of universal application. 
And it carries with it one special recommendation, that it is already 
familiar to every Oriental scholar, in every part of the known 
world. It is therefore proposed to adopt and apply this system, 
altered and modified, to a certain extent, to all Alphabets whe- 
ther of Sanskrit or Persian origin. 

These being the two chief sources of all the Indian alphabets, 
it is expedient primarily to represent them. For these being once 
successfully represented, all the rest will easily follow ; since no 
other Indian Alphabet contains sounds radically dissimilar. And 
the few anomalies that do occur, will best be explained under each 
of the alphabets that are only so many branches springing from the 
two parent stocks. 

I. The letters of the Roman alphabet, which may be success- 
fully employed for the representation of the Sanskrit and Persian 
alphabets, are the following : — a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, 1, m, n, 
o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, y, z. But these, even when used singly, 
are employed so irregularly in English orthoepy, that it is abso- 
lutely necessary at the outset to fix the precise sound which in the 
proposed scheme they are intended invariably to express. 

Short Vowels. 
a, has uniformly one sound, and that is the shut or, short a ; or a, 



81 

as represented by lexicographers. It occurs in such words as 

America, adept, quota, &c, and must never be confounded 
• with the sound of a, in mate, fate ; fall, all; far, tar, &c. 
i, the short or shut sound, as in Jit, sit, pin, &c. — never as in 

fine, mite, pine, &c. 
u, the short obtuse sound — as in bull, pull — never short, as in but, 

rut, &c. — nor long, as in mute, pure, secure, &c. 

Simple Consonants. 

b, has its regular sound, as in bed, bell, &c. 

d, has the soft dental sound formed with the point of the tongue, 
slightly pressed on the roots of the upper teeth, nearly as in 
duke, due ; or still more nearly, as the soft French dental d in 
des, &c. 

f, has its regular sound, as in fit, fix, &c. 

g, has its regular hard sound, as in got, go, &c. Never soft, as 
in gender, gentle, &c. 

h, has its regular sound, as in house, horse, &c. It is the letter 
that expresses the aspiration of any other. 

j, has its regular sound, as in jam, join, &c. 

k, has its regular sound, as in keep, king, &c. 

1, has its regular sound, as in law, land, &c. 

m, has its regular sound, as in man, mind, &c. 

n, has its regular sound, as in nap, nay, &c. It is the nasal that 
corresponds with the dental letters. 

p, has its regular sound, as in pot, pan, &c. 

q, has nearly the same sound, as in quack, clique, quoit, &c. It 
has been happily described by Gilchrist as " our k articulated 
by raising the root of the tongue simply towards the throat, 
which must not be in the smallest degree ruffled. The q may 
consequently be styled a deep, but liquid lingual letter, pro- 
duced by clinking the root of the tongue against the throat, so 
as to cause a sort of nausea. The same sound will be recog- 
nized when pouring water in a particular manner from a long- 
necked goglet, as the liquid decanting may represent the lower 

K 



82 

part of the tongue acting upon the throat or neck of the vessel 
in question, unruffled by the water gushing from it." 
r, has its soft sound, as in morn, scorn, &c. 
s, has its regular sound, as in sin, dusk, &c. 
t, has the soft dental sound, formed with the point of the tongue, 
slightly pressed on the upper front teeth, nearly as in tube, 
tunic, &c. It resembles, says Dr. Carey, the Yorkshire 
pronunciation of t in butter. It also resembles as nearly as 
possible the soft French dental t in tu, &c. 
v, has its regular sound, as in vain, vale, &c. 
w, has its regular sound, as in way, wet, &c. 
y, has its regular sound, as in yea, yes, &c. 
z, has its regular sound, as in zeal, zone, &c. 

The greater part of the foregoing letters may be employed di- 
rectly, with the sounds now explained invariably annexed to them, 
to represent corresponding letters in the Sanskrit and Persian al- 
phabets, thus : 



Rom. 


a 


i 


u 


b 


d 


f g h 


j 


k 1 


Sans. 


^ 


^ 


^ 


■sr 


^ 


7T ■% 


^T 


3T ^T 


Pers. 


1 




/ 


v 


J 


Li ^f * 


£ 


j"j 


Rom. 


m 


n 


P 


q 


r 


s t W 


V 


y z 


Sans. 


T 


7T 


V 




^ 


s w 


3" 


*T 


Pers. 








„ 




/ •• » 







f CJVOJ u» ^ J J is J 

In this clear, distinct, and satisfactory manner, can all those 

letters that are of most frequent occurrence be directly expressed 

by Roman letters, unmarked by accents or points, and uncom- 

pounded. 

II. We come now to a class of letters, the sounds of which not 
being radically diverse from the fundamental sounds already ex- 
pressed, may be accurately represented by certain appropriate 
marks. In these the difference exists chiefly either in the elon- 
gation of the short vowel sounds, or in a varied pronunciation of 
consonant sounds. And for the sake of distinction and uniformity, 



83 



it is proposed to distinguish elongated sounds by accents placed 
above,* and varied sounds, by dots placed underneath. 

Long Vowels. 

a, with an accent, has invariably the long broad sound, as in 

father, ask, &c. 
e, has invariably the long broad sound, nearly as in there, or as 

ei in neighbour, or exactly as e in the French temptte,fltche, 

&c. 
i, with an accent, invariably as long slender i, in police, or as ee 

in feel, sleep, &c. 
o, invariably long, as in note, cold, &c. 
u, with an accent, invariably the long obtuse sound, as in rude, 

rule, &c. 

Consonants with diacritic marks. 

d, with a dot below, is the hard palatial d, formed by forcibly 
striking the tongue against the palate or roof of the mouth ; 
nearly like d in dull, ladder, &c. The English d may be said 
to be somewhat softer than this Indian d, and somewhat harder 
than the Indian dental d. It, however, more nearly resembles 
the former than the latter. Still, as the latter occurs ten times 
more frequently than the former, it is deemed advisable to re- 
strict the dot to the former ; on the principle that it is expedient 
to employ diacritic marks as little as possible. 

h, with a dot below, is the common h, sounded more forcibly in 
the throat, nearly as in hay, hot, &c. 

n n n, with one, two, or three dots below, are nasals correspond- 
ing respectively to the three classes of Unguals, palatines, and 
gutturals. The latter two are not often used, unless compound- 
ed with another letter : and as that letter determines the class 



* In the case of e and o, which have not, like a, i, and u, any corresponding short 
sound among the short vowels, the accent over the letter is unnecessary, and is 
therefore omitted. 

K 2 



84 



of the n, the clots may in such case be omitted. The reason 
there are so many nasals is thus distinctly explained by Haugh- 
ton, " In the Deva Nagari alphabet no change takes place in 
sound without a corresponding change in writing; in conse- 
quence, as the sound of the nasals entirely depends upon the 
consonant, by which it is followed, it will, for this reason, 
depend upon the latter, what form the nasal shall assume in 
writing. As an example,, the sound of n in king is different 
from the sound of n in lent, (and from the sound of n in launch,) 
and for the first the guttural n would be required, and for the 
last the lingual n, (and for the other the palatine n,) if it were 
desired to represent these words in Deva Nagari characters ; 
because the g of king is guttural, and the t of lent, lingual," 
(and the ch of launch, palatine.) Hence n is sounded with the 
point of the tongue reverted to the palate, as n in lent : n, " by 
pressing the whole breadth of the tongue into the hollow of the 
palate, the tip turned downwards, and by forcing the sound 
through the nose, with the mouth open something like gn in the 
French digne :" n like the French n in sans, bon ; or like ng in 
ring, sing, &c. 

s s, with one or tico dots below, lik s in see, sin, &c. These are 
only introduced to distinguish two Persian letters, the sounds 
of which, as used by the people of India, are in reality iden- 
tical with that of the common s, i. e. possess the same phonic 
value. 

t, with a dot, stands exactly in the same relation to t, as d does 
to d. It is uttered by striking the point of the tongue on the 
palate, nearly as in tub, tin, &c. 

t, with two dots, and a slight shade of difference in the sound, is 
the Persian toe, so marked to correspond with zot of the same 
class of letters. 

z z z, with one, two or three dots below, are all of them sounded 
by the people of India, like s in zeal, zone, &c. They are 
here adopted merely to distinguish three Persian letters that 
differ in form, but not in sound. 



85 

The following, then, are the letters that may be clearly repre- 
sented by Roman characters, with diacritical marks. 
Rom. aei oiidhnnnsgttzzz 
Sans. 55rr^i;%T^^ jjtst^ ^ 

Pers -* * uJ <j? j j ^ u* & ^ <J> & * 

a, with a dot below, may represent the singular vowel-consonant 
P named ign, as in sign. " It is," says Shakespear, " one of 
the guttural letters, being formed in the lower part of the throat. 
Its sound has been compared to the voice of a calf calling its 
mother, or to that of a person making some painful exertion." 
"This letter," says Mr. Yates in his valuable Hindustani 
Grammar, "is generally pronounced a or i, sometimes long 
and sometimes short." When short, it may fitly be expressed 
by a, i. When long by a, i, agreeably to the notation already 
explained. To mark the distinction of these vowels from the 
others, a dot is placed below them. 

III. We next proceed to describe those letters, chiefly com- 
pound, that may most satisfactorily be represented by a combina- 
tion of two or more Roman characters. 

Anomalous Vowels and Diphthongs. 

ri, with a dot under it, to distinguish it from the consonant r, is 
reckoned a vowel in Sanskrit, and is pronounced, as in rill, 
rich, &c. 

ri, is the same sound elongated, as in marine, or ree in reed. 

Iri, is nothing but ri with the liquid 1 placed before it, and pro- 
nounced simultaneously. 

Iri, is ri, with the liquid 1 similarly placed before it. 

ai, which is compounded of a and i, and is pronounced like ai in 
aisle, oi in oil, or ie in die, &c. — but a little broader. 

au, which is compounded of a and u, and is pronounced like ou in 
ouy, ow in ow\, &c. — but a little broader. 



The mode of using these will be explained more fully afterwards. 



S6 



To these are commonly added °, or ang, a very strong nasal, as in 
gang : and :, or ah, a silent h, generally employed as a final. 

Compound Consonants. 

There is a class of consonants which many have accounted sim- 
ple sounds, for the expression of which there is no single letter in 
the Roman alphabet. But these have been, and may be, ade- 
quately represented by an appropriate combination of letters. 

These letters are c, g, k, s, z, followed by h — not the strong 
aspirating h, but k soft and subservient, i. e. h so modifying* the 
sounds of c, g, k, s, z, as to aid in producing the peculiar sound 
required, thus : 

ch, is sounded invariably like ch in cheat, church, China, &c. 
gh, or Persian gh-ign, with a dot below it, to distinguish it from 

the aspirated Sanskrit g, soon to be noticed. It is a peculiar 

guttural sound, like the Northumberland r, or that sound which 

is heard when gargling the throat with water. 
Mi, or Persian khe, with a dot below it, to distinguish it from the 

aspirated Sanskrit k. It is a guttural sound like the Greek % 

as pronounced by the Scotch ; or ch in the Scotch word loch; 

or ch in the German macht. " It is," says Gilchrist, " the 

rough guttural k, pronounced in the very act of hawking up 

phlegm from the throat." 
sh, is sounded exactly like sh in shine, shell, &c. 
sh, with a dot below it, is pronounced in the same way as sh ; and 

is so marked, because it has a distinct letter in Sanskrit, and 

as a sibilant, belongs to the class of Unguals, which have been 

similarly marked. 
zh, is sounded exactly like z in azure, s in pleasure, or the 

French j in jour. 

There is another class of consonants compounded of single let- 
ters and the aspirate, i. e. aspirated consonants. To express the 
aspirate, the Greeks employed a small mark like an inverted com- 
ma ( f ). The Romans substituted h ; and this letter is, for vari- 
ous reasons, the most convenient for the expression of the Indian 



87 



aspirates. These, by the annexation of h to the single consonants, 
may be most significantly represented. Care must be taken, how- 
ever, not to pronounce the consonants with the aspirate as one 
sound, which generally happens in the European alphabets. Each 
letter in the combination must have its sound audibly enunciated, 
though both sounds be closely united, 
b'h or bh, is b aspirated and pronounced as in Ho6-/iOuse ; or, 

dropping the first syllable, Z>-Aouse. 
ch'h or chh, is ch aspirated, as in churc^-Aill ; or, dropping the 

first part, ch-hi\\. 
d'h or dh, is the dental d aspirated. 

d'h or dh, is the lingual d aspirated, as in cold-^and, or c?-Aand. 
g'h or gh, is the hard g aspirated, as in do^r-Aouse, or g-house. 
j'h or jh, isj aspirated, as softer in college- Aall, or </e-/iall. 
k'h or kh, is k aspirated, as in mil£-/iouse, or Mouse, 
p'h or ph, is p aspirated, as in up-hill, or p-hill. 
t'h or th, is the dental t aspirated, 
t'h or th, is the lingual t aspirated, as in fai-Aen, or t-hen. 

These illustrative words are written at length, to convey, if pos- 
sible, the notion of the consonant and the aspirate's being each 
distinctly enunciated : and they are contracted, to shew that in the 
enunciation of the combined letters, they must not be too much 
separated. 

The following, therefore, are all the combined letters required 
to complete the representation of the Indian Alphabets : 

Compound Vowels. 

Rom. ri ri Iri Iri ai au ang ah 

Sans. ^ ^ *3T W 5 Ih" 

Pers. ^ * 

Peculiar Combinations. 

Rom. ch gh kh sh sh zh 

Sans. ^r — — ^l ft 

Pers. ^ £ £ J*> ■ — « j 



88 







Aspirated Consonants. 








Rom. 


chh 


dh dh gh jh kh 


ph 


th 


th 


Sans. 


^£ 


tr ^ ■% ^ ^ 


*R 


^ 


•5 


Pers. 













We have now completely exhausted all the letters in Sanskrit 
and Persian alphabets. In the former, the compound letter ^r is 
generally added ; but it is exactly represented by ksh. Let us 
then collect and arrange all the foregoing letters agreeably to the 
Indian mode of alphabetic order. 

The De'va Na'gari' Alphabet. 



^?T 





Vowels. 




a, -^T or 


T a; t f i, f Vi; 


^ u, ^ u 


"t 6, Ht 


; ^ ^ Iri, *f *f lri ; 


^ e, ^ ai 


^T au; ang, : ah. 




; 


Consonants. 




Gutturals, 


^r k, ^ kh; 7T g, •% gh; 


^F n. 


Palatines, 


^ ch, ^ chh ; -m j ^ jh ; 


3T n. 


Linguals, 


3 t, ^ th; ^ d, "3" dh ; 


55 n or cerebrals 


Dentals, 


7T t, -ar th; ^ d, t* dh; 


ST n. 


Labials, 


■q p, ir ph; ^ b, h bh; 
q y, K t; ^t 1, cr v ; 


*t m. 




sr sh, tst sh; ^ s, ■% h; 


^ ksh. 



Of the two last orders of letters, h ranks with the gutturals ; y 
and sh with the palatines ; r and sh with the linguals ; 1 and s with 
the dentals ; and v with the labials. 



Persian Alphabet. 



1 a, ! a, 1 


i,7, 


CL> t 


S 


ch 


<—> b, 




C-J s 


c 


h 


v p 




5 j 


c 


kh 



89 



J 



z 

r 
z 

> zh 

^ s 



C^ 



sh 






1= t 

k z 

p a, a, i, i, &c. 

Li f 



r m 

a w or v ; as vow- 
els, u, 6, or an. 

5 h 

ig y ; as vowels, i, 
e, or ai. 



Concluding Remarks. 

I. In the above scheme for Nagari consonants, the inherent 
vowel or short m has been omitted. It may however be supplied 
by any one in reading the alphabet thus, ka, kha — ga, gha — na, 
&c. the a being the obscure short a in America, or like a in adrift. 
It is more agreeable to the genius of the Roman Alphabet to sup- 
ply this vowel in writing or printing, instead of leaving it to be 
understood. 

When no vowel is subjoined to a consonant, it is supposed to be 
quiescent. And the small mark ( ^ ) that usually indicates a silent 
consonant, is not subscribed, in order to preserve a uniformity be- 
tween the Nagari and Persian Alphabets. 

The letter cr or k was represented by Sir William Jones by c, 
and the letter ^r or sh by s'. The former has been altered as too 
indefinite, and the latter as not being uniform. For the sake of 
distinction the accentual mark ( ' ) has been applied only to vow- 
els and not to consonants : besides it is now universally acknow- 
ledged that sh, as in short, is the true sound. 

The nasals also have been more minutely distinguished by dia- 
critical marks. 

For all languages derived from the Sanskrit, such as the Ben- 

L 



90 



gali, Hindui, Uriya, Marathi, the above scheme may be success- 
fully applied. 

II. The greatest difficulty in the Persian Alphabet has been 
the representation of the different s, t, and z's. The practical dif- 
ficulty, however, is greater in appearance than in reality, as those 
letters with the diacritical marks are of unfrequent occurrence. 
Indeed it has been adopted as a standing rule, that these marks 
should be used as sparingly as possible — and when used, should 
be restricted to these letters that more rarely enter into the com- 
position of words. 

To prevent misconception, it may be proper to explain here 
somewhat more fully the Persian system of vowels. 

There are three short vowels — zabar ; — zer ; — pesh : zabar and 

pesh being written above, and zer below, the letter which it fol- 

lows in the enunciation. Thus J ba, J bi, J bu. 

A letter having one of these accompanying it, expressed or un- 
derstood, is said to be harkat, or movable by that vowel. Thus, 

in j ba, b is movable by zabar : in * bi, b is movable by zer : 

in j bu, b is movable by pesh. If there is no short vowel express- 
ed or understood, the consonant is said to be sakin or quiescent. 

Thus »J bar, not bara, bari, or baru, &c. 

j Alif, when beginning a word or syllable, is reckoned by ori- 
ental grammarians, a very slight aspirate, like h in hour. But its 
chief purpose is to subserve the expression of short or long vowels. 

Thus, | a, ] i, / u — short vowels. Again, ' with " above it, 
generally written ■ ? is the long vowel a. So ' 5 when the last letter 
of a word or syllable, preceded by another letter with zabar ( ' ) 
above it, (and it is always so preceded,) becomes the long vowel 

a, as in b ba, &c. 



91 



• Wao, when movable by a short vowel, or beginning a word 
or syllable, is a consonant like w in with, and sometimes as v in 

void. Thus, • wa, &c. But * quiescent, i. e. terminating a word 

or syllable, when preceded by a letter movable by zabar ( ' ) forms 
the diphthong au, like au as pronounced by many in caustic, 

or ou in loud. Thus «J bau, &c. Again, l quiescent, preceded 
by a letter movable by pesh (f ) forms the long vowel u, like u in 

rude, or oo in moon. Thus^J bu, &c. This combination, how- 
ever, in Persian has often the power of long 6, as o in whole, 

j 
more, &c. Thus, *J may be sounded bo, &c. 

^ Ya, when movable by a short vowel, or beginning a word, 

or syllable, is a consonant like y in yet. Thus, ^ ya, &c. But ^ 
quiescent, when preceded by a letter movable by zabar ( • ) forms 

the diphthong ai, like ai in aisle, or i in fine, &c. Thus, ^J bai, 

&c. Again, ^ quiescent, preceded by a letter movable by zer 

( T ) forms the long vowel i, like i in marine, or ee in feel. Thus 
j^j bi, &c. But in Persian this combination has often the sound 

of long broad e, like the French & in naivete, &c* 

Hence it appears that in Persian there are three short and five 
long vowels, and two diphthongs. 

Three short, as in I a, j i, / u : or in j ba, J bi, j bu. 

Five long, as in I &, or u ba; ^ bi or be ;j^> bu or bo. 

Two diphthongs, as in ^ bai ; *J bau. 



* Whoever wishes for a simple aad concise view of Persian Grammar, will find 
it in the admirable elementary works of Messrs. Arnot and Forbes of the London 
Oriental Institution. — To be had of Messrs. Thacker and Co. Calcutta. 

L 2 



92 

In Roman characters three short, a, i, u : five long, a, i, e, u, 
6 : two diphthongs, ai, au. 

Hence in reading Romanized Persian, nothing can be easier 
than to reverse the process, by substituting, if required, the Per- 
sian in place of the Roman letters. 

The scheme now proposed will suffice for all languages which 
bear a close affinity to the Persian, such as the Hebrew, Arabic, 
Syriac, Chaldee, Samaritan, &c. 

III. It would be easy to fiud other Roman letters which might 
express the sounds of the Xagari and Persian Alphabets. For 
instance a, a might be short u and au, aw, eo, o, oa, or ou, as in 
taught, law, George, nor, groat, thought, &c. Instead of i and 
i ; we might have *, ee, ie, Sec. Instead of u, u ; we might have 
oo, ou, eu, ew, &c. Instead of t, ai ; we might have ay, ai, i, 
oi, &c. Instead of 6, ou ; we might have oa, ow, &c. But it is 
conceived impossible for any letters to represent the sounds in 
question more concisely or more appropriately than those which 
have been adopted. 

If this has been fully substantiated, (and it can readily be veri- 
fied by any one who will take the trouble to ponder the subject in 
all its bearings,) then, for the sake of that uniformity which is so 
truly desirable, it is to be hoped that every one will be disposed 
to merge private differences in one grand general plan for the se- 
curing of national benefits : — it is to be hoped, that one and all 
will be cheerfully prepared to sacrifice little partialities and pecu- 
liarities of opinion at the shrine of the Public Good. 

P. S. The author, in behalf of several others, who with him- 
self advocate the substitution of the Roman character, embraces 
this opportunity to notify, that it was once their intention to make 
a direct personal application to Oriental scholars, generally, for 
their opinion, as to the best practical method to be adopted in the 
proposed substitutionary process. On farther consideration, how- 
ever, it has been deemed most expedient, in order to save time and 
labour, and prevent unintentional partialities, to make this geueral 



93 



appeal to all those literati who take an interest in the subject. 
Be it then understood, that if any individual has any suggestions 
to offer, he is hereby solicited to make known the same, through 
the medium of the Christian Observer, or any other public journal. 
Conscious only of a sincere desire to promote the welfare of the 
people of India, we are open to sound advice, from whatever 
quarter it may proceed. Any real improvement that may be 
pointed out, will receive speedy and due attention. But should 
none be suggested ivhich is likely to meet ivith general approba- 
tion, the scheme now propounded may be considered as final. 

Not to swell this paper to an inordinate length, it is proposed 
to insert in the next Observer a complete representation of all the 
principal alphabets in Eastern India ; together with specimens of 
the different languages and dialects, in Roman characters. In 
conclusion, the author has here gratefully to acknowledge the va- 
luable assistance derived, in drawing up the preceding paper, from 
the suggestions of the Rev. Messrs. Yates and Pearce — gentle- 
men whose separate and united labours in the cause of native im- 
provement are too well known to require any statement on his part. 

ALPHA. 



A REPRESENTATION IN ROMAN CHARACTER OF THE PRINCIPAL 
ALPHABETS IN EASTERN INDIA, WITH NOTICES OF DIALECTIC 
PECULIARITIES, SPECIMENS OF THE MODE OF APPLYING THE 
LETTERS IN PRACTICE, AND ANSWERS TO OBJECTIONS. 

( Extracted from the Calcutta Christian Observer for June, 1834. J 

The scheme developed in the last Observer for representing the 
Deva Nagari and Persian alphabets in Roman characters has ex- 
cited a warmer interest, and secured a more general acquiescence, 
than could well have been anticipated. It has led in some quar- 
ters to frequent conversations and repeated discussions, and drawn 
forth from other various communications of a nature at once friend- 



94 



ly and instructive. Every thing around us seems decisively to 
prognosticate the ultimate triumph of our designs. 

When " the scheme" was put forth, observations were solicit- 
ed from all whose course of study might qualify them to form a 
practical judgment on the subject. Nor was the solicitation 
fruitless. While approbation of by far the greater part has been 
expressed, a few, and only a very few, alterations have been pro- 
posed. These it is proper now briefly to notice. They may be 
divided into two classes : — those that may, and those that cannot, 
well be adopted. 

1. The latter class, or that which includes the alterations that 
cannot well be adopted, refers exclusively to certain letters, which, 
though originally identical in sound, and though still retained in 
the original form, yet, in consequence of the mutations to which 
all things human are liable, have become, in different alphabets, 
somewhat changed in phonic power. To exemplify what is 
meant, take the first letter in every Indian alphabet, the Deva 
Nagari ^f or short a. " This/' says Sir William Jones, " is the 
simplest element of articulation, or vocal sound. The word Ame- 
rica begins and ends with it. In our own anomalous language, 
we commonly mark this elementary sound by our fifth vowel 
(or short u). The Nagari letter is called acar; but it is pro- 
nounced in Bengal like our fourth vowel (or short o) ; and in the 
west of India like our first." In Hindustani, our short u, as in 
up, sun, &c. would exactly represent this letter. Hence it is so 
represented by Dr. Gilchrist. Our short u being thus pre-occu- 
pied, the Dr. was obliged to express ^ and w, or our short obtuse 
and long obtuse u, as in push, cube, by the symbols oo and oo. 
Now, if we had to do only with Hindustani, this probably might 
be the most appropriate notation. But our object is totally dif- 
ferent, we have to provide for all the Indian alphabets. The 
question is not, what will suit best one particular alphabet ; but 
what, so far as we can judge, will suit every alphabet best, so as 
to secure the nearest possible approximation to a universal con- 
formity ? How, for instance, would Dr. Gilchrist's short u } as in 



95 



up, answer in the Bengali, where the letter is sounded like our 
short o ? How would it suit in those dialects where it is pronounc- 
ed like our a ? Would it, in these several instances, answer the 
purpose better than short a, as in America ? Surely not. And if 
not, since we have to make provision for all the alphabets, and 
forestall the peculiar deviations from the parent stock in each, — 
is it not better, more consistent, more uniform, to employ the 
letter which exactly represents the corresponding one in the pri- 
mitive Indian alphabets, and mark as anomalous in any particu- 
lar dialect the retention of the original letter, while the pronun- 
ciation is more or less varied ? In this case, most palpable it is 
that the anomaly lies not in our system of representation, but is 
wholly chargeable on the varying powers of the literal form re- 
presented. And if it be distinctly borne in mind, that our con- 
cern is not with what may answer best in this or that language, 
but with what may, on the whole, answer best in all the Indian 
languages, sure we are that this single circumstance of para- 
mount importance were enough to obviate every difficulty, and 
remove every objection that can possibly arise on the present 
head. 

2. The other class, or that which embraces alterations that may 
well be adopted, appears to be restricted to the two vowel sounds 
e and o, and to the nasal ns. 

In no Indian language are the vowels e and o short. They 
retain invaluably the long sound. Still, as we find the short and 
long sound of a, i, and u perpetually occurring, and as it was ne- 
cessary to mark this difference, it was proposed, in accordance 
with established usage, to let the simple letters express the short 
sound, and distinguish the long sound, by accents placed above 
them; thus a, a, &c. Since then an accent became the special 
symbol of an elongated sound, it was deemed proper, for the sake 
of uniformity, to place it over e and o, as well as over long a, i, 
and u. And it cannot for a moment be doubted that this preserves 
the unity and harmony of the system, by effectually excluding 
any thing like inconsistency or contradiction. On the other hand, 



96 



it has been urged, that these letters (e and o), and especially e, 
pervade the language to a greater extent than perhaps any others 
— and that we ourselves laid down the indisputable canon, that 
" it is expedient to employ diacritic and other marks as sparingly 
as possible." Influenced by these and other reasons, we have 
resolved to drop the accent from the long vowels e and o — assured 
that no mistake can arise, when we apprize the learner that these, 
in every Indian language and dialect, possess invariably the long 
sound, — the former nearly like e in there, or exactly like e in the 
French tempete ; and the latter like o in note. 

Again, with reference to the nasal ns, it has been suggested, 
that the notation may in practice be simplified. Of this no doubt 
was ever entertained. In " the scheme" it was shewn, how by a 
few dots these nasals might be distinguished with the utmost pre- 
cision. To save repetition, let the reader consult the explanation 
there given. He will find that the different classes of gutturals and 
palatines have each a nasal n, marked respectively n, n. Now it 
so happens that these are never interchanged, i.e. the n, belong- 
ing to the gutturals, never precedes a palatine letter ; the n, be- 
longing to the palatines, never precedes a guttural. In this case, 
the notation of n in practice may be perfectly intelligible without 
farther precision. That is, if n without any dot, be found pre- 
ceding a guttural, the reader may be sure it can be none other than 
n; if preceding a palatine, it can be none other than n ; and if 
preceding s or sh, h or a semivowel, none other than ng. By at- 
tending to this plain remark we shall get quit of several dots — and 
so simplify the practical use of the Roman character. 

Altogether, when we consider the conflicting state of opinions 
on this subject amongst orientalists, we have been delightfully 
surprised at the average rate of unanimity that now prevails 
amongst those friendly to the substitution — an auspicious concord, 
that must proceed from the noble resolve to sacrifice selfish par- 
tialities on the altar of social well-being and national prosperity. 

These preliminary remarks we shall now follow up by giving 
in separate tables the two parent alphabetic stocks, with the de- 
rivatives principally employed in Eastern India. 



97 

The Deva Nagari and its branches. 
Vowels. 



Bengali. 


Deva 

Nagari. 


Kaithi 

Nagari. 


Mahrathi. 


Uriya. 


Burinan. 


Butan. 


Sound in 

Roman 

character. 


$r 


^ 


^T 


*SX 


9 


90 


W 


a 


^1 


^T 


"9X1 


W 


211 


930 


W 
<} 


& 


* 


H 


3: 


eP 


«% 


00 
"1. 




i 


* 


t 


3: 


eP 


^ 


^ 


■a 


i 


« 


V 


« 


ta 


* 


8 




u 


* 


^ 


«j 


t& 


§ 


§ 


^ 


u 


«8 


^ 


s?s 


w 


s>* 





r 


ri 


* 


^f 


•^ 


■m 


^* 





r 
3 


ri 


a 


^r 

^ 




u 


8* 





r 

01 


hi 


£ 




^ 


^j 


— 





Of 
1 


hi 


A 


5: 


17 


^ 


* 


Q 


W 


e 


* 


5 


V 

V 


tsf 


$ 


to 


Sr 


ai 


^ 


% 


^T 


^5T 


(3 


o(cgo 







« 


% 


^TT 


<3J 


v§> 


qG'J 


w 


an 


°S 


* 


* 


♦ 





to 





ang 


0/ 



■■ 


: 


: 


8 


908 


w§ 


j ah 



* Sounded ru, ru, lru, in the Uriya alphabet, 
M 



98 

















Sound in 


Bengali. 


Deva 


Kaithi 


Mahrathi. 


Urij-a. 


Burman. 


Butaa. 


Roman 




N agari . 


Nagari. 










character. 


^ 


^ 


*G 


5T 


* 


oo 


*1 


k 


4T 


^ 


«T 


tSt 


a 


9 


p 


kh 


*r 


*T 


3T 


■?T 


■91 


o 


*] 


9 


^r 


^ 


■^r 


^J 


SI 


eo 


3 ■ 


gh 


<$ 


^ 


w 


3 1 


6* 


c 


c; 


n 


F 


^ 


3T 


^r 


S 


© 


i* 


eh 


w 


^ 


'ST 


ur 


& 


so 


rf* 


chh 


3F 


^ 


3T 


«r 


9 


9 


#* 


J 


3T 


*fi 


3£ 


^ 


t 


Gg 


I 


jh 


W 


s? 


^ 


T 


t 


S3 


s 


n 


* 


Z 


r 


^J 


% 


? 


?« 


t 


k 


Z 


* 


* 


o 


S 


B 


th 
d 
dh 


\5 


1 


t 


3 


© 


3 


? 


F 


3 


r 


^ 


8 


? 

I 6 


si 


W 


m 


TJT 


4 


OD 


n 


n5 


rf 


^r 


7T 


8 


OO 


* 


t 

th 


*r 


s? 


■sr 


^ 


8< 


00 


a 


*f 


* 


^ 


<cJ 


* 


■3 


^ 


d 


*r 


^ 


^r 


tr 


y 





5 


dh 


5T 


st 


3T 


^r 


ST 


?■ 


*7 


n 


n 


IT 


T* 


■q- 


a 


o 


tj 


P 


■^ 


tfi 


^R 


^ 


Sf 


cs> 


*J 


ph 


s 


ST 


cT 


^r 


% 


o 


^ 


b 


^5 


*T 


vT 


^FT 


«a 


CO 


3 


bh 


IT 


*T 


TT 


*r 


a 





*J 


m 


^r 


q 


?T 


^sr 


«i 


oo 


^ 


y 


?• 


X 


T 


^r 


Q 


CL 


X 


r 


"<?r 


^ 


^T 


sr 


•» 


CO 


QJ 


I 


<r 


*r 


^r 


v 


* 


o* 


c * 


V 


*r 


^ 


-3J 


sr 


SI 


00* 


fl 


sh 


^ 


* 


^ 


■^r 


SI 


— 


R 


sh 


7f 


* 


^r 


¥ 


a 





*V 


s 


^ 


t 


^ 


u 


t 


00 


^ 


h 


w 


w 


^r 


* 


Si 


p* 




ksh 



The Burman and Bulau letters thus marked are pronounced anomalously. 



99 



2. — -The Arabic and its branches. 



Hindu- 
stani. 


Persian. 


Arabic. 




Hindu- 
stani. 

i 


Persian. 


Arabic. 




Ilj/ 


I 


1 


a,a,i,u, 


P 








rh 


J 


J 


J 


b 


) 


J 


■ 


zh 


of 








bh 


-oJ 


«u 


4> 


s 


J 


J 





P 


M 


At/ 


<w 


sh 


tf 








ph 


*S 


4 


«a 


s 


J 


J 


J 


t 


«b 


i 


«b 


z 


J& 








th 


k 


1 


k 


t 


J 








t 


k 


* 


k 


z 


* 








th 


£; 


P 


C 


a a i u 


J 


.♦♦ ^ 


A 

J 


s 


C. 


> 


£ 


hh 


£w 


$J 


£>» 


J 


b 


i 


b 


f 


«x 








jh 


s 


3 


i 


q 


A. 


7 





ch 


r 


J 


r 


k 


^e» 








chh 


*r 


— 


— 


kh 


^ 


9 


£i= 


h 


r 


J 


— 


g 


&+ 


9 


• 


kh 


4? 





— 


gh 


j 


) 


J 


d 


j 


J 


J 


1 


i>j 








dh 


jQ 


i* 


X) 


m 


j 








d 


d 




d 


Q 


AS 








dh 


J 





— 


n 


i 


) 


i 


z 


J 


} 


J 


w 


J 


J 


J 


r 


8 


B 


5 


h 


J 





— 


t 


J 


J 


J 


y 



Note. — In the above tables, all the regular letters, with their proper sound, are 
given. This is in accordance with our plan of reserving explanations of particular 
variations or anomalies for each of the alphabets separately. But ere we proceed 
farther, it may be interesting and useful to collect and arrange in one tabular view 
all the Roman characters, combinations, &c. with such points and marks as have 
been adopted to complete the representation of the Indian Alphabets. 

M 2 



100 

Out of all the Alphabets arises the following complete Roman 
Alphabet. 



Letter. 


Name. 


Sound. 


- a 


akar, as in 


-America. 


r* a 


akar, as in 


art. 


a a &c. 


aign, as in 


jama. 


„ ai 


aikar, as in 


aisle. 


au 


aukar, as ow 


in coir. 


ang 


anuswar, as in swng. 


f* ah 


visarga, 


ah. 


-- b 


ba, as in 


but. 


bh 


bha, — 


hoo-Aouse. 


ch 


eha, — 


cAurcA. 


chh 


chha, — 


churcA-Aill. 


^ d 


da, — 


duke. 


r- dh 


dha, — 


niaa!-Aouse. 


., d 


da, — 


baa 7 cola 7 . 


^ dh 


dha, — 


colrf-Aand. 


> e 


ekar, — 


there. 


f 


fa, - 


fit. 


g 


ga, — 


got. 


g*» 


gha, — 


dog-house. 


gh 


gha, — 


gh&sily. 


-h 


ha, — 


Aave. 


h 


ha, — 


Aouse. 


i 


ikar, — 


zn. 


i 


ikar, — 


police. 


J 


ja, — 


jam. 


jh 


jha, — 


college- Aall. 


k 


ka, — 


Aeep. 


kh 


kha, — 


milA-Aouse. 


kh 


kha, — 


locA, (Scotch.) 


-l^ksha 


ksha, — 


bricA-shop. 


- 1 


la, - 


7 and. 


, l?i 


lrikar, — 


ful 7 ~WH. 



101 

Letter. Name. Sound. 

lri lrikar, as in full-reel. 



m 


ma, 


— 


wan. 


- n 


na, 


— 


wap. 


* 9 


na, 


— 


wot. 


- 


na, 


— 


bow, (French.) 


o 


okar, 


— 


note. 


P 


pa, 


— 


pmi. 


ph 


pha, 


— 


up-hill. 


q 


qa, 


— 


clique. 


r 


ra, 


— 


race. 


r 


ra, 


— 


eternel, (French.) 


rh 


rha, 


— 


Boer^aave, (Greek.) 


- ri 


rikar, 


— 


rip. 


ri 


rikar, 


— 


reel. 


^ s 


sa, 


— 


sin. 


s 


sa, 


— 


sahib. 


s 


sa, 


— 


hiss. 


sh 


sha, 


— 


shall. 


sh 


sha, 


— - 


shot. 


t 


ta, 


— 


pot. 


th 


tha, 


— 


pot-house. 


t 


ta, 


— 


fat. 


th 


tha, 


— 


fat- hen. 


u 


ukar, 


— 


pwsh. 


11 


ukar, 


— 


cwbe. 


V 


va, 


— 


rain. 


w 


wa, 


— 


wet. 


y 


y a > 


— 


your. 


z 


za, 


— 


-seal. 


? 


za, 


— 




z 


za, 


— 


zone. 


z 


?a, 


— 


zephyr. 


zh 


zha, 


— 


azwre. 



102 



It has been already stated, that in the derivative alphabets, 
certain anomalies, such as the retention of the original letter, 
with a different pronunciation, &c. have in the lapse of time 
slowly crept* in. This circumstance alone were sufficient to ex- 

* We cannot in connection with this subject refrain from quoting a few extracts 
from the truly admirable grammar of the Gaelic language, by the late Rev. Dr. 
Alexander Stewart: "In the first exhibition," says he, " of the sounds of a living 
language, by alphabetical characters, it is probable that the principle which regu- 
lated the system of orthography was, that every elementary sound should be re- 
presented by a corresponding character, either simple or compounded ; and that 
the same sound should be represented by the same character. If different sounds 
were represented by the same letter ; — if the same sound were represented by 
different letters; — if more letters were employed than were necessary to exhibit 
the sound ;— or if any sound were not represented by a corresponding character ; 
then the written language would not be an adequate representation of the spoken. 
It is hardly to be supposed that in the first rude attempt at alphabetical writing, 
the principle above laid down could be strictly and uniformly followed. And 
though it had, yet, in the course of a few generations, many causes would occur to 
bring about considerable departures from it. A gradual refinement of ear, and in- 
creasing attention to euphonia; contractions and elisions brought into vogue by the 
carelessness, or the rapidity of colloquial speech, or by the practice of popular 
speakers ; above all, the mixture of the speech of different nations, would intro- 
duce numberless varieties into the pronunciation. Still those who wrote the lan- 
guage might choose to adhere to the original orthography, for the sake of retaining 
the radical parts, and preserving the etymon of vocables undisguised ; and for 
maintaining an uniformity in the mechanism of the inflections. Hence the pro- 
nunciation and the orthography would disagree in many instances, till at length it 
would be found expedient to alter the orthography, and to adapt it to such 
changes in the speech or spoken language, as long use had established ; in order 
to maintain what was most necessary of all, a due correspondence between the 
mode of speaking and the mode of writing the same language. 

" It will probably be found on inquiry, that in all languages, when the speech 
has undergone material and striking changes, the written language also has varied 
in a considerable degree, in conformity to these changes ; but that it has not 
scrupulously kept pace with the spoken language in every smaller variation. The 
written language of the Greeks suffered many changes between the time that the 
old Pelasgic was spoken and the days of Demosthenes. The various modes of 
pronunciation, used in the different districts of Greece, are marked by a diversity 
iu the orthography of the written language. The writing of the Latin underwent 
considerable alteratious between the era of the Decemviri aud the Augustan age ; 
corresponding, no doubt, to the changes which had taken place during that inter- 
val, in speaking the Latin. English and French books printed within the last cen- 



103 



pose the emptiness of the boast, that absolute regularity and un- 
changeableness characterize the Indian alphabets. But our ob- 
ject is not to recriminate : our wish is merely to point out the 
actual state of things, in order to facilitate the progress of the 
learner. With this view, we shall endeavour to mark what may 
be termed the anomalies or peculiarities of some of those dia- 
lects which, from their proximity to us, require immediate atten- 
tion ; it is chiefly the discrepancies found to exist between certain 
letters and their modern phonic power. There are two ways of 
marking these anomalies. Thus in Bengali the Deva Nagari «r 
otv is retained and written "z or v. But, the natives almost without 
exception now pronounce it not va but ba, exactly the same as 3 or 
ba, from which also it is not to be discriminated in shape. Either 
then we must represent this letter always by v, and place some mark 
above or below it, to denote that the current pronunciation is not v 
but b ; or, we must at once represent it by b, the actual modern 
sound, and place some mark above or below it, to signify that it is 
the anomalous b, or the b, which exactly expresses the modern 
sound of the ancient v. On the whole, the latter seems to be the 
preferable expedient. Let us then in imitation of many learned 
orientalists adopt the horizontal (-), and let us define it to be the 
symbol that denotes anomalies or peculiarities in particular dia- 



tury exhibit a mode of orthography very different from what is found in books 
printed two or three hnadred years ago. These instances show the tendency which 
the written language has to follow the lead of the spoken language, and to main- 
tain a certain degree of conformity to those modes of pronunciation, which are 
from time to time adopted by those who speak it. 

" On the other hand, numberless examples might be adduced from any living 
language, to prove that the written language does not adapt itself, on all occasions, 
and with strict uniformity, to the sounds of speech. Words are written differ- 
ently which are pronounced alike. The same combination of letters, in different 
situations, represent different sounds. Letters are retained in writing, serving to 
point out the derivations of words, after v they have been entirely dropped in 
speaking. 

" From such facts as these, it appears a just conclusion, that written language 
generally follows the spoken language through its various revolutions, but still at 
a certain distance ; not dropping so far behind as to lose sight of its precursor, nor 
following so close as to be led through all its fantastic deviations. 



104 



lects. Thus, if in Bengali we meet with the word "feeba" in 
Roman character, we shall at once conclude that this is not the 
regular b, but the anomalous b, that expresses the current sound 
of the ancient v, and so with other letters. 

With this explanation, we shall proceed to delineate, as pro- 
posed, the existing anomalies in those dialects in which books are 
to be immediately prepared. 

1. — Anomalies in Bengali. 

The letters ^ da and "5" dha are very frequently pronounced ra 
and rha, with the tip of the tongue reverted to the palate. To 
mark this deviation in Bengali, a point is usually placed beneath 
the letters ; thus -& rha. Now let us retain r, which expresses the 
sound, and distinguish it as anomalous by the horizontal (-), and 
thus we shall obtain ra and rha. Whenever, then, we meet with 
ra or rha, we shall know that these exhibit the anomalous sound 
of ^r da and ■S" dha. 

The letter ^r ya is often pronounced ja ; and when ?r retains its 
genuine sound ya, it is distinguished by a dot put below it, as -^ 
ya. To express its anomalous sound ja, let us adopt our fixed 
symbol, and write J_a. 

The letter 3 va, when used anomalously for b, will be written 
ba. 

The letter ^ va, when following a consonant, with which it is 
combined, has the sound of wa : thus in ^\?[\, through or by, 3 is 
subjoined to iff , and the word pronounced dwdrd. Heuce, 3 used 
anomalously for w, is marked m. 

33 jna compounded of ^ja and 4p na, the palatine nasal, sound- 
ed like gn in the French digne. It is however pronounced gya 
with a nasal sound. 33 therefore will be represented by g_ya. 

35? ksha is 3» ka and ^[ sha. but is always sounded khya. It will 
therefore be represented by khya. 

*, named Chandra-bindu, properly speaking, is the common n, 
but in Bengali is used as a symbol often written over vowels, to 
express a strong nasal sound, like n in the French bon, or ng in 



105 

ring, as in %\7{, which is pronounced bangs, a bamboo. We 
must therefore represent it by an. In Hindustani, it is written as 
a component part of the word. 

Table of Anomalies. 
Letters. Proper sound. Anomalous sound. 

^ da ra 

■& dha rha 

3" va ba 

— — ma 

33 jna gya 

^ ksha khya 

an an 

The first letter ^ a is generally corrupted by the people of 
Bengal into an obscure sound like short o, in dot, cot, &c. This 
must be remembered by all who read the Bengali Romanized. 

2. Anomalies in Hindui. 

The 'sr d and ^ dha are often pronounced ra and rha, as in 
Bengali, by reverting the tip of the tongue to the palate. ^ and 
■sr, therefore, are represented by ra and rha. 

q sha is commonly sounded as kha. It is, in this case, ex- 
pressed by kha, 

^ ksha is sounded like chha, and is expressed by chha. 

Table of Anomalies. 

Letters. Proper sound. Anomalous sound. 

^ da ra 

■& dha rha 

■$ sha kha 

^ ksha chha 

3. Anomalies in Hindustani, fyc. 

The letters j da and £ j dha are often sounded ra and rha, 
and must be expressed as before, ra, rha. 



106 



Anomalous sounds of various letters in the other languages 
might here be pointed out, such as c-> which in Arabic is often 
sounded th, &c. : — with more important variations in Butan, Bur- 
man, &c. : — but we purposely omit them at present, because not 
immediately required, and because it is our intention to prefix to 
every book that may be prepared in any language or dialect, a 
table of regular and anomalous sounds in the alphabet of the par- 
ticular language or dialect; — which tabular representation may 
form the key to the easy and infallible decyphering of the con- 
tents of the work. And the specimens now given in Bengali, 
Hindui, and Hindustani may serve as illustrations of the facility 
with which not only ordinary but extraordinary sounds may be 
represented in Roman character. 

Having thus unfolded the common and anomalous sounds in the 
three Indian alphabets that more immediately concern us, we now 
present a few specimens in the Romanized form : — 



PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. 

In Beng&li character. 
Luke xv. 11—24. 

*< ^5lr^ ^fkyr, c^ f*tes, cnMuI4 few c*r w ^ 
4^4 ■2T^?d ^r cwt ^U ^f?m ij$it><uire ^^ 

■^^lf^N5 ^T, 43°^ >6l*j4 TT^T 5R4JiI^d«lNi)KI<l 



107 

^ i *F# T$fes i ^roHre a\ w?\ (H5^rl *tt^d ^f^r, 
^tir *iw& f^t? fo&fc W5K CF&ssftfkyifo *rc:^ 

f*te§, t^T?? few ^^r° v 6M^I<i fa^ri> *it*t ^f% 
?Tfe ^^trr*! <>&lnl4 ^ ^nri fa-sirte ^^t?r c^rt^tr 

^tr^ affirm *rr^rfa ^51 ^trt?" *f*rl sfind N5t^tra 

SWc?? fa^ro 4*°^ estate fa*ri> *W ^#nTfe 

^sre^ 4-tf^ c^tsrHr *£h ^f^r?ri ft^trfa ^^t?r c^Tsfr 

*A ^ 1 f^ ^t^t? f^5i ft^tTff^-jii^ ^rtest fed 

^7T> TTOTt^sT ^i" wtferl 3XTre *t?t^ 4*^ IXte 

*i«5*iU>6 wajsfar ors* 4*°^ f^r <>rrr?n:^ «tl^l 

Vo ore, ^rt?r ^B «$$> tT^?t wtferi nl?r, ^te;1 c^t^r 

< 8 ^f?nl ^rtsr^l wto*R ^fe 1 (7T c^^ 4^ c*r WW? 

*£q (7T ^ ^tn 44ft ^"fa ^rriTg;, tXtre ^t?1 

tin *£w *ii%rfe ; ^\^ps ^Kt?i ^rr=T^t ^#re 

"STff^TI 

The above, in Roman character. 

] 1 Ek byaktir dui putra clihila ; 

12 Tahar kanishtha putra pitake kahila, He pitah, tomar 
bishayer je ansha paiba taha bibhag kariya deo. 

13 Tahate pita nij sampatti bhag kariya tahake dile par, sei 
putra samasta dhan ekatra laiya diir deshe prasthan kariya 
dushtacharanete samasta sansthan uraiya dila. 

14 Pare se deshe maha durbhikhya upasthit haila, ebang tahar 
sakal dhan byay haile tahar dainya dasha ghatite lagila. 

1 5 Pare taddeshhiy a ek grihashter ashrita haile, sei byakti shiikar- 
pal charaite tahake mathe pathaiya dila ; 

1 6 Kintu tahake keha kichhu ahar na deoyate se shukarer kha- 
dya khosha prabhriti dwara udar purna karite bancha karita. 

. N 2 



108 



17 Abasheshe se mane mane chetana paiya kahila, Hay amar 
pitar nikate kata kata betangrahi das jatheshta ahar paiteche, 
kintu ami khudhay maritechhi. 

18 Ata-eb ekhan uthiya pitar nikate giya ei katha baliba, He pi- 
tah, I shwarer biruddhe ebang tomar nikate pap kariyachi, e 
karan tomar putra baliya bikhyata haibar jogya nahi. 

19 A 'make apnar ek betangrahi das kariya rakhun. 

20 lha bhabiya se gatrotthan kariya pitar nikate gaman karila ; 
tahate tahar pita durhaite tahake dekhiya dhabaman haiya 
tahar gala dhariya tahake clmmban karila. 

21 Takhan putra tahake kahila, He pitah, I 'shwarer biruddhe 
ebang tomar nikate pap kariyachhi, ata-eb ekhan tomar pu- 
tra baliya bikhyata haibar jogya nahi. 

22 Kintu tahar pita nij dasdigke agya diya kahila, Sarbottam 
bastra aniya ihake parao,, ebang ihar angulete anguriya deo, 
ebang ihar payete paduka deo. 

23 Ar hrishta pushta bachhur aniya mara, taha bhojan kariya 
amra ananda kari. 

24 Je hetuk ei je amar putra se mrita haiya ekhan sajib haiya- 
che, ihake haraiya punaschha paiyachhi; tahate tahara anan- 
da karite lagila. 



hindui . 
PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. 

In Ndgari character. 
Luke xv. 11—24. 

\^ 3^t %r ^t sp^W ^rat ^nrn ^?f% ^ 



109 
^ ^^ S3i JT^T^T iNR *RT ^TT ^^ <3$ %V$ 

<m$ %T^ ^TOT ^^ ^CWJ fo $T ftm% f^rT* 

\^ *rcmin i t ^Si^tt %t ^^ frm ttto ^n^rf t 

=^o a** ^ ^3^ ^R^ fTOT *TO ^T3T ^5 *R ^ £T 
"ffaT ^i\ ftrn^ S^fiT ^T ^|K ^3TO 1T3T 
%^ fl^T %T ^^ *P3H fa^^T ^|*R ^TT I 

\R TO Jff 3fT^t I cW ftfTM ^^ §^I^T W^T 

H^ ^T2T 3^ST f^ ^T^T %T *HTT f% ^ *T ^R 

4rc ^r ^?tt f g^ €pi^t «n lirc f^ i^t % 

The above, in Roman character. 

11 Kisi manukhyake do putra the ; 

] 2 Un-men-se chhutkene pitase kaha^ ki he pita, sampatti-men- 

se jo mera bhag howe, dijiye ; tab usne unhen upajivan bant 

diya. 
13 Aur bahut din na bitne paye, chhutka putra sab kuchh eka- 

tha karke, pardeshko chal nikla^ aur wahan kukarmamen ap- 

ni samasta sampatti nashta kit 



110 



14 Aur jab wuh sab kuchh utha chuka, us deshmen bara akal 
para ; aur wuli daridra hone laga. 

1 5 Tab wan jake, us desh ke ek pra jaka sebak bana ; aur usne 
use npne kheton men bheja ke silron ko charawe. 

16 Aur wuli lalasa rakhta tha ki un chhilkowse jo stir khate the 
apna pet bhare ; aur koi use na deta tha. 

17 Aur jab wuh upne chetmen aya, usne kaha, ke mere pitake 
kitne banihar hain jinki rod bach rahti hai, aur main bhukhse 
marta hon. 

18 Main uthorjga aur apne pita pas jaunga, aur use kahonga, ki 
he pita, main sxvargake aur tere age aparadhi hon. 

19 Aur ab main jogya nahi ki tera putra kahaon ; mujhe apne 
baniharon men-se ek ke saman banaiye. 

20 Tab wuh uth ke upne pita pas aya ; porantu jab wuh durhi 
tha, uske pitane usko dekha, aur dayal hua, aur daura, aur 
uske galemen girke, use chumne laga. 

21 Aur putra ne usko kaha, ki he pita, main ne swurgaka aur 
tera aparadh kiya hai, aur ab is jogya nahin ki tera putra 
kahaon. 

22 Tab pitane apne sebakon ko kaha, ki achchhese achahhe bas- 
tra lao, aur isko pahinao ; aur uske hath men angtithi, aur 
paon men juti pahinao. 

23 Aur wuh mota bachhra idhar lao, aur maro ; ki ham khawen 
aur anand karen : 

24 Kyonki mera yih putra margaya tha, aur pher jita hai ; wuh 
kho gaya tha, aur mil gaya hai ; tab we anand karri e lage- 



HINDUSTANI'. 






PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. 






In Persian character. 






Luke xv. 11—24. 






f-ur T d * ^- &~» ^u**^ 


-f< 


II 


tjff. ^L-Jl _±X (J\ fl(<Z- -f\ L- 


-& 


\t 



Ill 



«r/ jl** jj3> : £*Z I 



L~i 4- yi 



j)7 



* b-^-'t 






£ 



' ; ^^a^jy 



a:: i 



i 



-^ 



*yHt\ 



<s-J* 4- l9 -> ~^J> 1 



<S" J >' Jf/i ^h J (/."*. u?< 



^/^^ 



aT 



• c/* t" 






112 



f * 

* i#/to >? '^<> J) i/ 1 c* ^ u/ W 



The above, in Roman character. 

11 Ek shakhs ke do bete the ; 

12 Un-men-se chhutke ne bapse kaha, kih ai bap, malse jo inera 
hissah ho, mujhe dijie ; tab usne baqadari niaash unhen bant 
diya. 

13 Aur bahut roz nah guzre the, kih chhutke betene sab kuchh 



113 

jama karke, ek mulk baidka safar kiya, wahanbad maashimen 
apna mal barbad kar diya. 

14 Aur jab wuh sab kuchh kharch kar chuka, us sar-zamin men 
sakht kal para, aur wuh bemayah ho chala. 

15 Tab wuh jake us mulk ke ek mutawattin ka naukar bana ; 
usne use apne kheton pur bheja kih stir charaya kare 

16 Aur use arzu thi kih un chhilkon se jo sur khate the apna pet 
bhare ; so bhi kisine use nah diye. 

1 7 Aur jab wuh apne hoshmen aya to kaha, kih mere bap ke 
kitne hi mazure hain jinhen rotian wafir hain, aur main 
bhdkhse mart a hun. 

18 Main uthkar apne bap pas jatlnga, aur use kahringa, Kih ai 
bap, main asmanka aur tera gunah-gar hun. 

19 Aur ab is layiq nahin kih tera beta kahlaun; mujhe apne 
mazuron men se ek ke manind banaye. 

20 Tab wuh uthkar apne bap pas aya. Aur wuh hanoz dur tha, 
kih uske bapne use dekha aur rahm kiya, aur daurke uske 
gardan par ja lipta, aur uski machhiyan lin. 

21 Betene use kaha, Kih ai bap, main ne asmanka aur tera 
gunah kiya hai, is layiq nahin kih tera beta kahlaun. 

22 Tab bapne apne naukaronko kaha, achchhi se achchhi poshak 
lau, aur ise mulabbas karo, aur uske hathmen angiithi, aur 
paon men juti pahnau. 

23 Aur wuh pala hua bachhhra lake, zabah karo kih ham kha- 
wen aur anand karen ; 

24 Kyunkih mera yih beta mar gaya th£, ab zindah hua ; khoya 
gaya tha, so mila : Tab we aish karne lage. 



Answers to Objections. 

Having thus illustrated the particular mode in which the Ro- 
man Alphabet may *be substituted in place of the principal alpha- 
bets in Gangetic India, it seems desirable, though not necessary, 
to take a brief review of objections that have been advanced 

O 



114 



against the general substitutionary scheme. Not necessary, be- 
cause many of them have been already anticipated and answered, 
and to the answer no reply has yet appeared, and no new ones 
have been adduced of a nature sufficiently momentous to counter- 
balance even one of the manifold advantages previously detailed. 
But desirable, inasmuch as total silence may be misconstrued by 
some into total incompetency to meet the objector on his own 
chosen field. 

The only objections which have appeared in a tangible form, so 
far as we know, are those brought forward by a correspondent of 
the Gyananneshun. And as the author has written in a style 
eminently characterized by freedom from controversial virulence, 
or offensive personality, he is justly entitled to the most candid 
hearing. His remarks, therefore, shall be noticed seriatim, to- 
gether with a few others. And in the thoughtful Editor of the 
Gyananneshun, himself, we doubt not, will be found a most 
powerful ally. 

1. It is alleged, that " the whole native population of India 
will disapprove of the measure." 

This, in fact, seems to be the gravamen of all those charges to 
which our opponents usually appeal. But to what does it amount ? 
To a baseless assumption. No : says the objector, it is not a 
baseless assumption. But how can this second baseless assertion 
support the first baseless assertion ? We may assert, that sugar 
is bitter ; that fire is cold ; that the sun is black ; but what is the 
use of assertion without proof?* Has the objector proposed to 



* We can hardly suppose that the objector seriously meant for proof what he 
states respecting the fabulous origin of the Indian characters. " They," (the Hin- 
dus,) says he, " will think, nay feel it sacrilegious to abandon their native characters, 
which they suppose to have been invented by God," &c. Now, it is not true that 
the Indian characters generally are believed to be " invented by God." The only 
character, in regard to which this superstitious belief prevails, is the Deva Nagari. 
And that the Hindus have not thought it "sacrilegious" to depart from a form 
supposed to be communicated by the gods, is demonstrated beyond all possibility 
of doubt, by the notorious fact, that the natives of every province have actually de- 



115 



offer the shadow of a proof ? Not he : a bare, naked, unsubstan- 
tiated assertion is all that he favours us with. But this the au- 
thor must be aware cannot satisfy an ingenuous mind. We feel 
impelled to push the matter, and ask, Where is the proof of so 
sweeping an assertion to be found ? From what data can any 
living creature, with the insignia of truth before his eyes, make a 
declaration that is universal, — without limit, and without qualifi- 
cation ? How, where, or when, have " the whole population of 
India" expressed such decided disapprobation ? In what mode 
have their suffrages been obtained ? What meetings, public or 
private, have been held to discuss this national question ? What 
journals, or pamphlets, have been made the organs of announcing 
the unanimous verdict ? But really thus to press for proof of that 
which admits of none may seem like forcing a man to make bricks 
without straw. Suppose we allow, that there may be this uni- 
versal hostility, we must still be permitted to ask, How, or by 
what means, has it been ascertained actually to exist ? Is not the 
utmost that can be said with any semblance of truth simply this, 
— that several natives have manifested dissatisfaction at the mea- 
sure ? And how can this amount to a proof, that all the natives 
of Hindustan have done, or will do so ? We may assert, that the 
whole of the interior of the Andes is composed of pure gold. 

parted from that form — have actually invented, substituted, and employed a new and 
widely different form of their own : — hence the Bengali, the Uriya character, &c. 
&c. Besides, have not multitudes of Hindus actaally adopted the Persian charac- 
ter to express Indian words, i. e. a foreign character — the character of their hated 
Mussulman conquerors? Farther still, though the Sanskrit is believed to be the 
language, even as the Deva Nagari is thought to be the character of the gods, 
strange to say, the natives generally will not read the divine language, if written or 
printed in the divine character. They prefer writing and reading the Sanskrit in 
the common character that is employed in the province to which they belong. 
Thus, in Bengal, the natives will not, unless constrained, even learn the Deva Na- 
gari ; neither will they purchase Sanskrit works printed in that character. They 
write Sanskrit in the Bengali character; and Sanskrit works printed in it are ea- 
gerly sought after, and obtain a speedy, and extensive circulation. After hearing 
all this, who can any more give heed to the absurd and foolish fable, respecting 
" the sacrilegiousness" of departing from the alphabetic character of the gods? 

O 2 



116 



When asked for proof, we may reply, In some mines gold has 
been discovered. Indeed, retorts our opponent, Suppose /admit 
that your universal assertion may be true, how does its truth ap- 
pear from the limited evidence adduced ? Because gold has been 
found to exist in some mines, therefore, it exists to the extent of 
composing the whole of the interior of this vast mountain range ! 
If such reasoning prove any thing at all, it is this, that sound 
reason has nothing to do with it. 

But we not only deny the absence of all evidence ; we negative 
the assertion altogether. In regard to 999 out of a 1000, is there 
a single circumstance of a positive nature, beyond vague analogy 
and conjecture, to shew that they are either favourable or unfa- 
vourable ; — if not ; then, as to the remaining fraction, if it be 
said that some oppose our scheme, we assert, without fear of con- 
tradiction, from our own individual experience, that some do not 
oppose it, yea, that many highly approve of it. 

After all, supposing what it is utterly impossible to grant, yet, 
for argument's sake, supposing that it was proved that " the whole 
population of India" were opposed to the change, what inference 
should we draw? — That because there is " a national prejudice" 
against it, therefore, it should not be attempted ! He who would 
argue thus, must surely have mistaken the age in which he lives. 
He must have been dreaming of the times when interested men 
lazily fattened on ignorance and prejudice, and dreaded all change, 
as they would the hurricane or the pestilence. And if this mas- 
ter-piece of selfish reasoning, by which the struggle has been 
maintained to preserve the accumulated prejudices, corruptions, 
and abuses of ages, and have them consolidated into one imperish- 
able mass of deformity, is to be still echoed and re-echoed in our 
hearing, the only reply which we can deign to make is, that we 
are drawing towards the middle of the 19th century, and that such 
time-serving arguments are fit only to be tossed, like the ravings 
of the Sibylline oracle, to the four winds of heaven. The grand 
question with us is : — may the change be pronounced a good one 
— one, exuberant with blessings to the deluded people of India ? 



117 



If so, regardless of abuse, and fearless of difficulty , let us arouse our 
inmost energies to enforce it on the attention of all around us, and 
so labour to banish venerated follies, and extinguish for ever 
" national prejudices." 

2. It is said, that as the system " can be adopted (only) on a 
limited scale at first," those who learn the Roman characters must 
acquire a knowledge of the native alphabets too, in order to com- 
municate with their countrymen ; hence, it is added, " much time 
will be lost for nothing." 

Admitting these premises, we must flatly deny the conclusion. 
Much time will not be lost for nothing. Almost all those who 
at first learn the new system are the boys and young men already 
engaged, or about to engage, in the study of the English language; 
and most palpable it is that these must learn the Roman alphabet 
at any rate ; so that to them there can be no additional loss of 
time. Now those who study English will be daily increasing in 
number and respectability ; and these assuredly are the individuals 
who will give the tone to Hindu society. And through their in- 
fluence and example, hundreds and thousands will gradually be- 
come acquainted with the Roman character, who have not studi- 
ed, nor intend to study the English language ; and the necessity 
for communicating in the native character will be proportionately 
diminishing. In this way, a knowledge of the system will neces- 
sarily overspread every corner of the land, till the number that has 
mastered the new character, will equal that which has not, and 
ultimately become preponderant : — then will the necessity for ac- 
quiring the native character wholly vanish. 

But let us freely and frankly admit that those who live, during 
the transition process, must labour under disadvantages from 
which their descendants will be exempt : yea, more ; let us sup- 
pose the disadvantages to be vastly greater than they ever can be : 
— and what of all this ? Because, the securing of certain lasting 
benefits, must be attended with temporary disadvantages, shall we 
therefore sit down in ignoble repose, and make no attempt to se- 
cure them at all? To compare great things with small, what 



118 

should ive have been now, had our forefathers acted in this des- 
picable spirit ? What perils by land and by water, what cease- 
less anxieties, what painful watchings by night and by day, what 
cruel persecutions, did they not endure ? And for whom did they 
endure them ? Chiefly for us. Boldly did they encounter a thou- 
sand difficulties and dangers, which, when overcome, ensured to 
us the charter of numberless inestimable privileges. And is not 
the circumstance, that they submitted to such sacrifices, in order 
to bequeath so rich and noble a legacy to their children, part of 
their chiefest glory ? Is it not this that encircles their brows with 
the halo of an earthly immortality ? Now, in a cause far inferior, 
it may be, and encompassed with far fewer difficulties, may we 
not be permitted to emulate so splendid an example ? Though 
destined, we fear, to follow these at an immeasurable distance, 
still we should not hesitate thus to address the present generation 
of Hindus : — A change has been proposed, which promises to 
secure for you, and especially those that follow after you, un- 
speakable benefits. But like every other ameliorating change, it 
cannot be effected without subjecting you to certain temporary 
inconveniences. One monitor has arisen who suggests, and by 
inference, seems to exhort you, not to adventure on the change, 
because of the great personal trouble with which it may be at- 
tended ; will you listen to the suggestion — will you brook the 
exhortation ? Long have the Hindus been charged with self- 
ishness and cowardice : will you still perpetuate the grounds of 
this charge ? Bather, will you not arise, and demonstrate to your 
accusers that you can acquit yourselves like men? Will you not 
arise and disclaim the imputed baseness of not adopting what is 
beneficial, merely because it may occasion some additional trou- 
ble? Will you not arise, and prove that you are capable of 
forming disinterested resolutions, and achieving generous deeds — 
deeds of unfading renown ? If the great change now proposed 
cost you some trouble, and subject you to the ordeal of opposition 
and contumely, will it not confer blessings that cannot be num- 
bered, on millions of your countrymen, down to latest posterity ? 



119 

And in viewing this magnificent prospect, is there not to you a 
large and ample reward ? Is not the very thought enough to in- 
spire your bosoms with the fire of patriotism, stronger and purer 
far than the glow of heroic chivalry ? And as future ages reap the 
golden fruits of your labour, will they not look back with exult- 
ing joy to the present aera ; and will not your memories be 
enshrined, not in " tablets of marble or of brass," but in the far 
more enduring tablets of the hearts of a grateful and enlightened 
people ? 

3. It is asked, " What guarantee have we for the permanency 
of the system to be introduced ? It may happen that a few years 
hence, an individual holding an entire sway over the Education 
Committee will dislike the measure, and re-establish the native 
characters." 

Much more importance is here attached to the Public Instruc- 
tion Committee than it possesses or deserves. Its influence at 
best can only extend a certain length. But let that pass. Times 
are now changed. Formerly the Committee acted on the vilest 
close borough system. Its proceedings were about as well known 
as those of the court of the king of Timbuctoo in Central Africa. 
Hence the silence and apparent acquiescence of the Indian pub- 
lic. But once exposed to view, these proceedings have called 
forth a cry of indignation throughout the land. And if the veriest 
despot that ever tyrannized over it with his iron sceptre were once 
more to attempt to usurp supreme authority, he would be hurled 
from his throne by the shout of public opinion. If the projected 
plan succeed now, i. e. if a sufficient number of Europeans resolve 
to support it, backed by the most influential part of the press ; if 
it be, on rational grounds, embraced by numbers of intelligent 
natives ; if it take firm root in some of the most popular semina- 
ries in the country, — we have every possible guarantee, of which 
such a case can admit, that its demolition is beyond the reach of 
any future Committee, public or private. In the event of general 
success, no Committee would dare to interpose its veto; or, if it 
did, its efforts would prove abortive, and its appeals would be 
drowned amid the expostulations of an incensed community. 



120 



If the measure should be approved of by the present enlighten- 
ed Committee, and its approbation confirmed by a Government 
pledge not to sanction any future radical innovation or subversion 
of it ; all good and well. But we repeat it, that the cause is in- 
dependent of such approbation or pledges. For, if it be as benefi- 
cial to India as we believe it to be, it will ultimately succeed by 
the inherent, irresistible force of those advantages which it so 
liberally offers. 

4. It is supposed to be impossible to establish " one fixed and 
uniform mode of representing the Indian alphabets in the Roman 
characters;" because, " there are now several systems, and some 
stick to this, and some to that, and so on." 

This, we verily believe, to be a most groundless assertion. It 
involves a most dishonourable insinuation. It is built on the hy- 
pothesis that numbers of upright men will prefer their own little 
peculiarities to the securing of national benefits. It supposes, 
therefore, a compound of pride, selfishness, and infallibility, to the 
possession of which few, we trust, would have the ambition to as- 
pire. It is, in fact, a libel on the good sense and fair character 
of many who are not less distinguished as oriental scholars, than as 
the best friends of the species. The authors of four different systems 
have been named, viz. Sir William Jones, Dr. Gilchrist, Dr. 
Carey, and Mr. Yates. The first of these has long since paid the 
debt of nature ; the second is in Europe, far removed from the 
arena of contest ; the third, through the gradual decay of nature, 
is fast hastening to the close of a glorious career of benevolence ; 
and the fourth, with the genuine feelings of a philanthropist, has 
voluntarily and cheerfully signified his purpose of abandoning any 
thing peculiar in his own system, for the sake of the public good, 
and the establishment of the necessary fixedness and uniformity. 
A fixed and uniform scheme has, accordingly, been propounded, 
and it is with no ordinary satisfaction that we refer to the fact, that 
all who are favourable to the substitution have announced their 
determination to adhere to it ; — and those who are not favourable 
are not likely soon to trouble us with conflicting representations 



121 

of the Indian in Roman characters. That , therefore, which has 
been "pronounced impossible, has already been accomplished. 

But, continues our indefatigable objector, " supposing a new 
system to be established by common consent, a few years after, 
some learned persons may find fault with it and make several alter- 
ations in it. In this manner, innumerable difficulties will be thrown 
in the way of the learner." 

There is nothing perfect under the sun : and if in the time to 
come, some slight alterations should be proposed and adopted by 
common consent, such alterations can no more interfere with the 
general system, or embarrass the minds of the learner, than the 
substitution of i for e in inquirer, or of o for ou in labor, &c. 
can be said to throw " innumerable difficulties in the way of the 
learner" of English orthography. 

5. It is urged, that " in case of the substitution of the Roman 
characters, there must be two sorts of letters, one for printing and 
the other for writing, and that this is a great inconvenience." 

If this be an " inconvenience" in a certain sense, it is one that 
repays itself with compound interest. What is the perfection of a 
printed character ? Is it not a vivid obtrusive legibility ; — such 
a legibility that an experienced eye could devour, as it were, at a 
single glance, the contents of a whole page ? In this respect, the 
Roman character, as exhibited in the most improved modern type, 
is unimitated and inimitable. 

And no doubt much of this perfect legibility arises from the use 
of capitals. This topic has been thus noticed by the intelligent 
Editor of the Enquirer : " We are still thinking of the new scheme 
to represent the native sounds by the Roman alphabet. One very 
. great advantage will be gained from the capital and small letters 
with which the latter abounds. The reading of Sanskrit, Bengali, 
Persian, &c. would not receive an inconsiderable facility if all 
proper names were to begin with capital initials. This would 
contribute to render the reading of the native languages much ea- 
sier than it at present is ; and of course this circumstance is, in 
proportion to the advantage, favourable to the new plan." This 



122 

is a sound practical observation. Let the reader open the first 
oriental work that comes in this way, and he will perceive its 
appositeness. From the first page to the last it will be found to 
exhibit one continued sheet of homogeneous uniformity. Without 
being over-fanciful we may compare its internal aspect to that of 
the plains of Bengal. Here are no undulations of soil — no eleva- 
tions — no "crags, knolls, or mounds/' to diversify the scene, to 
serve as boundaries to the lords of the soil, or protrude as land- 
marks to aid the traveller in acquiring a topographical knowledge 
of the country. Go where you may, it is one wearisome unvaried 
sameness — one interminable interchange of flat paddy fields and 
close dingy jungle. Similar is the appearance of an oriental work. 
It looks like one dull monotonous mass, without beginning, mid- 
dle, or end. There is nothing prominent to point out the com- 
mencement of new sentences or paragraphs — nothing prominent to 
distinguish the proper names of persons, places, objects, or events. 
Wearied and unaided, the reader travels onward. And if he wish 
to refer to some particular passage, or the account of some parti- 
cular person, place, &c. he is left in his search without a clew. 
In a work printed in Roman characters, he would, by the aid of 
the capitals, at a single glance discover what he wanted : in a 
work printed in oriental characters,, he must patiently waste his 
precious time in plodding through almost every line of every page. 
Indeed, so great is the inconvenience, that it has been sorely felt ; 
and various have been the attempts, by means of asterisks, &c. to 
apply a remedy. But, as yet, every attempt has only turned out 
a ludicrous failure. Have we not then a right to demand of our 
mighty Philologists, what expedient their imagination, expanded 
as it must be by its familiarity with the boundless flights of orien- 
tal fancy, can now suggest, which may offer a tithe of the advan- 
tages conferred by Roman capitals ? 

Still farther, by the beautifully simple device of " Italics," an 
emphatic word or phrase is made to strike the eye, and thereby 
reach the understanding or the heart, with an ease and rapidity that 
almost surpasses conception, and sets description at defiance. In 



123 



this particular, we should like to know what imaginable contriv- 
ance equally simple and perfect could be devised for any one of 
the Indian alphabets ? and yet, in reading, how can the importance 
of such an admirable contrivance be too much exaggerated ?* 

Again, what is the perfection of a written character ? It is not 
facility of formation, combined with distinctness? In this re- 
spect the Roman character is unimitated and inimitable. The form 
of the written letters is not so different from that of the printed, 
as to demand much additional time in mastering it, — -and that 
little time is more than compensated for by the almost incredible 
speed with which it can be employed in practice. 

There are, besides, other peculiar advantages. Men may con- 
trive to disguise the fact as they may, nevertheless, it is not the 
less certain, that, though nominally or theoretically, the printed 
and ivritten oriental character is the same ; practically, there is a 
difference as wide, and often wider, than between the printed and 
written Roman character. The truth is, that that form which an- 



* That no one may think this over-stated, let the following quotation from Mur- 
ray's large grammar be duly weighed : " On the right management of the emphasis 
depends the life of pronunciation. Tf no emphasis be placed on any words, not 
only will discourse be rendered heavy and lifeless, but the meaning often left am- 
biguous. If the emphasis be placed wrong, we shall prevent and confound the 
meaning wholly. To give a common instance, such a simple question as this, " Do 
you ride to town to-day?" is capable of no fewer than four different acceptations, 
according as the emphasis is differently placed on the words. If it be pronounced 
thus : " Do you ride to town to-day," the answer may naturally be, " No, we send 
a servant in our stead." If thus : " Do you ride to town to day?" Answer, "No, 
we intend to walk." "Do you ride to toivn to day?" " No, we ride into the 
country." " Do you ride to town to-day?" " No, but we shall go to-morrow." 
Now if so much of the meaning and force, and often so much of the beauty and 
propriety of aD expression, depends on the emphatic word, is it not of the highest 
importance that it should be distinctly marked ? From the example now given 
may not the most obtuse understanding perceive, with what matchless ease, sim- 
plicity, and effect, this can be done, by means of italic letters ? — And may we not 
challenge all the orientalists in the world to concoct, if they can, an expedient 
which, with the same ease, simplicity, and effect, can single out an emphatic term 
or expression in any of the Indian languages, if written or printed in the Indian 
characters ? 

P 2 



124 



swers best in print is far too stiff, angular, or rounded, to suit the 
speed that is so very desirable in writing. Hence it happens that 
a Hindu or Mussulman, when he writes his own alphabetic cha- 
racter, with any degree of quickness, almost invariably finds him- 
self constrained to depart from the precision and regularity of the 
printed form, yea, to depart so far from it, that his writing is often 
illegible to all but himself, and not unfrequently even to himself. 
More than this : as there is no acknowledged standard of written 
character, one man departs from the printed standard in one way, 
and another, in another. Hence, necessarily arises a grotesque 
medley of characters, a " rudis indigestaque moles" of varying 
forms. Each man, in fact, may have his own system of written 
character, and there may be as many systems as there are writers. 
How inextricable then must be the resulting confusion ? 

Compared with this unavoidable chaos, how orderly and com- 
plete is the Anglo-Roman system. Here all is regularity and 
harmony. There is one universally acknowledged standard of 
written, as well as of printed, character, — even that which unites 
in the highest possible degree, quickness in forming, and distinct- 
ness when formed. And this standard being established by com- 
mon consent, the deviations of particular individuals therefrom, 
being only variations more or less minute from what is fixed and 
uniform, they never do, they never can lose their similitude or 
identity with the original. One man can never fail to understand 
his own writing : and all men must be able to decypher the writ- 
ing of all men. So far, therefore, from the distinct written form 
being an " inconvenience," in practice ; it must be hailed as one 
of the greatest and happiest " conveniences," which the wit of 
man ever suggested, or his ingenuity contrived. 

6. It is assured, that " all the useful books that have been and 
will be published in the native characters before such a change 
takes place must be reprinted in the Roman ;" and then follows 
the wondering exclamation, " What an immense expense will be 
incurred in the reprinting of such works as Babu Ramcomal Sen's 
English and Bengali Dictionary, Dr. Carey's quarto Dictionary 
of the Bengali and English," &c. 



125 



Surely there is an utter fallacy or oversight in this objection. 
How stands the case ? Is the printing of one edition of a book 
like the opening of a perennial spring, which, when it once begins 
to flow, will continue to pour forth its exhaustless waters for ever ? 
If it is, we grant, that the printing of another edition in the same 
or in a different character may be said to incur an extra ex- 
pense, large or small, according to the size of the work. But it 
is not so : one edition, consisting as it does of a limited number of 
copies, is obviously exhaustible ; and when all the copies are sold, 
it is of course exhausted. What then must be done ? What else 
can be done, but to print a new edition, in order to meet the grow- 
ing wants of a rising community ? — and if a new edition of a good 
book must be called for, in the natural order of events, may it not 
be printed in one alphabetic character, as well as another, without 
incurring an " immense" additional expense, or any additional 
expense at all ? May not even the expense of such a reprint be 
vastly less than that of the original edition ? 

But it is added, that the Indian letters, in consequence of the 
inherent vowel and particular combinations, may be compressed 
into as small a space as the Roman. It is needless to argue this 
point abstractly. It resolves itself into a simple matter of fact ; 
and the best answer that can be given is, to advise the reader to 
look back, and, inspecting the specimens supplied in this article, 
let the testimony of the visual organs decide the question in debate. 

7. It is objected, that by the proposed substitution, we deprive 
the present generation of the means of mental and moral improve- 
ment. 

This is founded on a total misconception of our design. It is 
not in our power, nor if it were, would we ever propose to suppress 
all the existing publications, and supply no more in the same form. 
We know that there are hundreds and thousands of adults acquaint- 
ed with the native character, who can never be expected to learn 
any other. And suddenly to deprive them of works which they 
can peruse, and the perusal of which is calculated to elevate and 
purify their minds, were either a species of inquisitorial cruelty or 



126 



a sort of wicked madness. Enthusiastic and visionary as we are 
reputed to be, we have not yet suspended the functions of sober 
reason. Our object is, by all lawful means, to disseminate the 
knowledge of a system which we verily believe to be fraught with 
blessings innumerable to this benighted land. With this view, 
books in every department of religion, literature, and science will 
be immediately prepared and published on the improved plan. 
The mode of reading these with intelligence, will be taught to 
those over whom our influence extends ; and every reasonable en- 
couragement will be held out to all who desire to propagate the 
knowledge of it. By these means the superiority of the reformed 
system will be gradually perceived, and its advantages duly ap- 
preciated ; till at length it may be divulged to the extent of ab- 
sorbing all the prevailing systems. In other words, the native 
alphabets retiring before the Roman, and being naturally displac- 
ed by its incumbent and increasing weight, will eventually, without 
violence or alarm, disappear from off" the land. 

But during the intermediate process, books will be supplied to 
the adherents of the old systems, that are to sink fast into decre- 
pitude and final annihilation. That is, for a season, there will be 
two contiguous and contemporaneous streams — the old and the 
new — the former decreasing, and the latter increasing, in volume 
— the one contracting itself within narrower bounds, and the other 
enlarging its borders ; till at last both channels become one, on 
whose broad and expanded bosom shall flow the fresh waters that 
are to scatter fertility and abundance over a dry and parched land. 
Or, to drop the metaphor, we shall, for some time to come, have 
to furnish two sets of books — the one in the native, and the other 
in the Roman character. With the former we shall supply chiefly 
the aged ; with the latter, chiefly the young, especially those who 
learn English. Let then the School Book Society, the Bible 
Society, the Tract Society, &c. provide themselves with books 
of the two kinds now mentioned, wherewith to supply these two 
classes of readers. And as the new order of things gains ground, 
the copies in Roman character will abound more and more, till 



127 

they gradually supersede those printed in the native form. And, 
when great numbers of the reading population come to understand 
and prefer the new arrangement, then may the Sumachar Durpun, 
and other journals especially designed for natives, exchange their 
Indian for the Roman garb. And then may we witness the sub- 
lime spectacle of all books, pamphlets, magazines, and journals 
unitedly pouring forth floods of knowledge, through one consistent 
and harmonious medium, over every region of the largest and 
fairest empire under the sun !* 



* That cavillers may no longer taunt us with the sneering question : — "Having 
now settled your alphabetic scheme, what use are ye going to make of it?" it may 
be stated, that we have already begun to apply it to its legitimate purpose. The 
following works are now in preparation, and some of them already passing through 
the press ; viz. 

1. The New Testament, English and Bengali. The Bengali version, in Roman 
character : to be published in single Gospels. 

2. The New Testament, English and Hindustani. Do. Do. 

3. Woollaston's Grammar, Bengali and Hindustani. 

4. Moral Precepts, English and Hindustani verse. 

5. Scientific Dialogues, &c. &c. 

6. The Elementary English works, or Primers, prepared for the General As- 
sembly's Institution, Calcutta, viz. 

No. I. Instructor, interlinear Bengali version, in Bengali character, to be after- 
wards followed by the Roman. 

No. II. Do. literal version in Bengali character, and free version in Roman. 

No. III. Do. entirely in Roman character. 

We trust it will now be seen that we are in right earnest, and that our scheme 
is not to evaporate in mere words. And as our earnest desire is to give offence to 
none, but do good to all, we sincerely hope that many, who are now lukewarm, or 
even decidedly opposed to us, may yet be conciliated and become our staunchest 
friends and supporters. 

Since we wish, with the least possible delay, to translate Primers, Grammars, 
Histories, &c. into every language and dialect in the presidency of Bengal, we 
would respectfully solicit the assistance of such European and Native gentlemen 
as are competent to the task of translation. If any one who is qualified will kindly 
undertake to translate one or more works into the language or dialect with which 
he is acquainted, he will be immediately supplied with a copy, on application. 
When completed, the work will be printed free of expense to him, and he will be 
furnished gratis wilh a large number of copies for distribution. Already have 
some gentlemen promptly volunteered their valuable services ; and others, who 



128 



The foregoing are all the objections which we have seen advanc- 
ed; and whether in themselves, and especially in contradistinc- 
tion to the manifold advantages pointed out in a former paper, 
they can be allowed to possess " the weight of a feather/' we 
leave to the candid reader to judge. Some, as fully anticipated, 
have again sounded the tocsin of " the letters, the letters, what is 
the learning of letters ? A trifle, a trifle, a mere trifle." Reasons 
which have not yet been controverted were formerly given for dis- 
senting in toto from the burden of this song. And if farther con- 
firmation be required, it may now be furnished. Some years ago, 
when controversy ran high respecting the merits of Dr. Gilchrist's 
philological labours, these found an advocate in the Edinburgh 
Review. The Quarterly, on the other hand, with its tremulous 
dread of all change, treated the learned orientalist with lofty dis- 
dain. But in spite of the most deadly hostility, the current of 
change has set in, and who can now arrest its progress ? Even the 
Quarterly, which still doggedly clings to many antiquated errors, 
has in some things changed. On the present question even it has 
let in some gleams of light. In the last No. or the No. for Oc- 
tober, there is an able Review of Grimm's New German Gram- 
mar. In his elaborate introduction, this author, in the genuine 
German style, has a lengthy dissertation on the origin and descent 
of the ancient European languages, — the Gothic, the German, the 
Saxon, the Celtic, the Sclavonic, &c. Now mark the Review- 
er's words : — 



cannot lend their aid in translation, have decisively expressed their good will, by 
forwarding liberal donations to defray part of the expense that must, in the first 
instance, be necessarily incurred. 

Besides providing translations of useful works, and printing these in Roman 
character, it is our intention, if supported by an enlightened public, to select every 
oriental book that is worth any thing, and turn it into the new orthography, i. e. 
Romanize it. In this way we may expect that the good, or at least the harmless, 
will help to swell the accumulating body of sound literature — while the bad and 
worthless will be abandoned to neglect, and left to perish as they deserve. 

The entire series of Native works and translations, we may designate " The 
Romanized Series of Oriental Literature." 



129 

" The first 600 pages of the book are taken up with a minute 
examination of the letters in each of the dialects which come under 
consideration, and here we must commend the example Grimm 
has shewn in abolishing the use of the Gothic characters. There 
is no more reason for our employing them, than for our using the 
Roman capitals in printing Latin ; the common type was equally 
unknown to both nations, and the use of the uncouth Gothic let- 
ters, both increases the difficulty to the reader, and adds to the 
expense of printing, without affording any countervailing advan- 
tage. Indeed, the example might be extended even to the ori- 
ental languages with very great benefit ; if, for instance, the 
Sanscrit were printed in European characters, we are convinc- 
ed that a large class of persons would acquire at least its rudi- 
ments, who are now deterred from similar studies by the formi- 
dable difficulty of a new character looking them in the face at 
the very outset" 

With such a respectable authority as this on our side, we can 
afford to allow objectors to regale themselves undisturbed with the 
music of their own favourite fancies. 

Having now developed our plans, our expository task is ended. 
Henceforward " action" shall be our watchword. We have a 
field before us wider and nobler far than any which aroused the 
ambition of the Eternal City in the meridian of her glory : — but, 
oh, how vastly different our object in entering it! Where she 
would have marched at the head of conquering legions, satisfied 
when terror established the invincibility of her arms — we go forth 
with the messengers of peace, the heralds of true wisdom, satisfied 
only when happiness, harmony, and love shall proclaim the invin- 
cible kindness of Truth. And those treasures of knowledge which 
surpass a thousandfold what Rome in her proudest days ever pos- 
sessed, we shall disperse through the medium of forms which her 
inventive genius has supplied. And thus, along distant streams 
and fertile valleys, never visited by the Imperial Eagle, shall the 
name of " Roman" flourish in connection with the mental eman- 
cipation of millions, when all other stately monuments, that recal 

Q 



130 



the remembrance of Roman greatness, shall have crumbled into 

dust. 

ALPHA. 

P. S. It has been already stated, that during the last month, 
several friendly communications have been received respecting- the 
substitution of the Roman in place of the Indian alphabets, and our 
"scheme" for accomplishing that end. Amongst these is one 
from a gentleman in the Upper Provinces, well acquainted with 
the Oriental languages, and successfully engaged in the instruction 
of Native youth — on which accounts we deem his remarks parti- 
cularly entitled to attention. Besides this, his letter briefly alludes 
to certain advantages attending the proposed substitution that 
wholly escaped our notice ; we have, therefore, much satisfaction 
in making from it the following weighty extract. After various 
introductory remarks the author thus proceeds : — 

" I entirely agree with you, not because the idea is yours, but 
because the measure is fraught with incalculable advantages to 
India. It is, I really and truly believe, the most effectual mode 
of any, of diffusing knowledge, both Asiatic and European, among 
the people at large. The grand barrier to improvement in this 
country has been the want of printing, or the being obliged to 
impart knowledge through the slow, limited, difficult process of 
manuscripts. It is a most expensive and Herculean labour to 
print in the Arabic, or Persian, or Deva Nagari character. It 
would be quite as easy as printing any English work, to print 
books and newspapers, &c. in Roman characters, though the 
language be different. The benefits of printing their own books 
in this way would be a thousandfold — but the benefits of printing 
in the Urdu dialect, and Roman characters, the substance of 
our literature, are quite incalculable. Nothing could impart a 
greater impulse to civilization. Every gentleman almost might 
then publish translations — for there are but few indeed who can- 
not explain in Urdu, their thoughts, or the substance of any 
written work. Epistolary correspondence between Europeans and 



131 



Natives (now next to impossible, owing to the necessity of em- 
ploying a third person as the medium of communication), would 
become as common as correspondence is between two Europeans, 
or two Natives, in their respective tongues. A judge might then 
read all the proceedings himself, and write his orders himself. 
Public functionaries would then perform, singly and unaided, 
twice the work, which they now cannot perform without the as- 
sistance of three or four Natives. It would lead to the adoption of 
thousands of European words, in the Urdu books and compo- 
sitions, and thus the Native literature would be enriched most 
rapidly :— but there is no end to the advantages I anticipate from 
this most ingenious plan," &c. &c. 



TO THE PEOPLE OF HINDUSTAN. 

All who read newspapers, those winged messengers of intelli- 
gence, now know that a proposal has lately been made to write 
Sanskrit, Persian, Bangali, and other Indian languages in the 
letters of the English alphabet. But many do not exactly under- 
stand the nature and object of the proposal. These, therefore, it 
is proper briefly to explain, and let the wise and intelligent among 
the natives of India lend an attentive ear. 

First. The nature of the proposal is simply this. — That in writ- 
ing and printing words, sentences, or books, in Sanskrit, Persian, 
Bangali, &c. English characters should be used for all, instead of 
Deva-Nagari, Persian, or Bangali characters. Thus instead of 
writing the word f^^ffr in Nagari characters, we might write kisi 
in English characters : instead of ^— l^u in Persian, bapse in 
English characters : instead of f*fv3tC3F m Bangali, pitake in 
English characters : and so, in like manner, might we write all 
other words in every Indian language in English characters. In 

Q2 



132 



this way, one alphabet, i. e. the English, might answer the pur- 
pose of all the Indian alphabets. 

Now, why should this proposal appear strange to the natives of 
India ? Have not they themselves long been accustomed to write 
the words of one language in letters belonging to another ? Is not 
this fact known to all except Haris, Majurs, Dhangars, &c, who 
are so miserably ignorant, that they know nothing ? For example : 
has not the Persian character been often practically used in re- 
presenting Indian words, particularly in the Upper and Western 
Provinces ? And on the other hand, has not the Nagari charac- 
ter been employed in expressing Persian and Arabic terms ? The 
Urdu, which is a compound of Persian and Indian words, has 
been represented indifferently by Persian or Nagari letters. And 
if so, why not this, and other Indian languages, by the English ? 
Besides, do not Brahman Pundits, the Kulin editor of the Chun- 
drika, the Maha Raja Kalikrishan Bahadur, and all other learn- 
ed and respectable natives, write Sanskrit words and slokes in 
Bangali characters ? And if so, why might they not write San- 
skrit slokes in English characters ? the characters of the language 
of the rulers of this land — a language, which is dignified also by 
possessing boundless treasures of knowledge to make men good 
and wise, great and powerful ? 

To shew how easily this might be done, we here present one or 
two specimens : — 

SANSKRIT SLOKES. 



In Deva-Ndgari Characters. 



*«Nr ^t^ *cw' *m *nwer inr *: 11 

In Bangali. 



133 



In Roman. 
Aneka sanshay ochchhedi paroksharthasya darshakang 
Sarvasya lochanang shastrang yasya nasty andha eva sah. 

Meaning. 
He who is not possessed of learning, which dispels many 
doubts, points out hidden things, and is the organ of sight to all, 
is even as a blind man. 

STANZA. 

Arabic. 



*U>! aj i^JI to b -j^ I 
aJL^I «d ^ U> Uj J*ju $j 



Persian. 

Isna bina ma anta lahu ahluhu, 

Wa la tafal bina ma nahnu lahu ahluhu. 

Meaning. 

Do to us what is worthy of thyself; but do not to us what we 
deserve. 

Second. The object of the proposal may be briefly stated to be 
the benefit of the people. 

Some through ignorance, and others from sinister motives, have 
declared, that the object is to perplex and injure the natives by 
destroying their vernacular languages. Now the opposite of this 
is the true statement. One grand object is to benefit the people 



134 

by preserving, enriching, and facilitating the study of, the na- 
tive languages. Instead of perplexing people's minds, the pro- 
posal of substituting one in place of a multiplicity of different 
alphabets, is the only sure way of delivering them out of all per- 
plexity. 

If a Hindu* has several khejurf trees in his garden, and if his 
neighbour proposes to cut them down and plant a nim\ tree in 
their place : — this proposal must be injurious. But if his neigh- 
bour proposes to cut down the khejur trees, and plant a very large 
mango tree, which will every year be covered with the finest fruit, 
in their place : — would this proposal be injurious? No, all will 
unanimously reply, it would not be attended with injury, but real 
benefit. Precisely similar is the case in regard to the present pro- 
posal. It is not intended to supplant the native alphabets by the 
introduction of another of inferior value, for that would not be 
good : but it is proposed to supplant these alphabets by the intro- 
duction of one that shall secure numberless advantages, which all 
the rest combined, do not possess : — and must not this be pro- 
nounced good ? Surely it must. And in order that no one may 
any longer impose upon you in this matter, some of the benefits of 
the proposal will now be stated. We speak to the wise and intel- 
ligent among the Hindus. Let the wise and intelligent judge. 

1. In most of the Indian alphabets, there are about fifty letters, 
with innumerable compounds, which greatly perplex and retard 
learners. Now all these can be perfectly represented by 24 sim- 
ple English letters, with the occasional use of these three simple 
marks, (') (.) (-) This it is plain, must make the progress of every 
learner more easy and rapid. 

2. All who wish to be useful in business, renowned for learning, 
or exalted to high situations and responsible offices, must learn the 
English language. If then, all learn to read and write the Eng- 

* Wherever Hindu occurs in these remarks, it denotes a native of Hindustan, 
■whether Hindus or Mussalmans. 

t_ A tree that produces an inferior sort of fruit. 
% A tree whoseTruit cannot be eaten. 



135 

lish alphabet from the time of infancy, when learning their own 
mother tongue, much valuable time and much useless trouble must 
be saved in acquiring a knowledge of the English language. 

3. Besides learning English, great numbers of Hindus are ob- 
liged to learn several Indian languages. But it is well known 
that much valuable time is consumed by the majority of mankind 
in learning the new characters of any language. And a vast deal 
of time is spent in acquiring the same facility and speed in read- 
ing and writing these characters, as is enjoyed in reading and writ- 
ing those with which they are long familiar. Now whole months 
or even whole years of unprofitable labour may be saved by the 
universal introduction of the English characters. 

4. The Sanskrit is the common root of all the Indian dialects. 
But at present each dialect has letters of a different figure ; and 
this leads the Hindus of one province to suppose that the Hindus 
of another province speak a totally different language. Conse- 
quently, they are apt to regard each other as strangers and foreign- 
ers. Now, if all the Indian dialects were presented in the same 
English character, it would be seen and felt that the natives are 
not divided into so many sections of foreigners to each other, that 
they have all fundamentally the same language, and that without 
much difficulty, a community of interest, and a beneficial recipro- 
cation of thought might be effected to an extent at present un- 
known, and from the repulsive aspect of so many written charac- 
ters, deemed utterly impracticable. 

5. It follows from this statement, that as almost all Indian 
dialects are derived from the Sanskrit, when a native thoroughly 
masters one dialect, he is already acquainted with the meaning of 
numberless words in every other. If all were, therefore, repre- 
sented in the same English character, instead of learning one, or 
two, or three languages, as at present, a Pandit, Shastri, or Mun- 
shi, might in the course of his lifetime master all the languages of 
Hindustan. Surely, that proposal which would lead to the ac- 
cumulation of so much learning in the mind of one person must be 
super-excellent. 



136 



6. By the admirable contrivance of Capital and Italic letters 
in the English alphabet, the facility of reading with propriety, and 
referring to names and particular passages, is mightily increased. 
But from the nature and shape of the Indian letters, this contri- 
vance cannot be imitated. If then English letters be substituted in 
their place, the thousands, and the tens of thousands of Hindu 
youth may have the unspeakable benefit of this simple and beauti- 
ful contrivance in learning to read and write their own vernacular 
languages. Stops in all their several gradations, marks of inter- 
rogation and admiration, inverted commas, and other aids to the 
correct reading and understanding of books and manuscripts which 
the native literature at present either does not possess at all, or 
possesses in a very imperfec tdegree, will be at the same time intro- 
duced; and this, it must be acknowledged, will save time, increase 
knowledge, and lead to the native languages becoming fixed and 
cultivated much sooner than it would be possible for them to be- 
come without such helps. 

7. It is a fact that, from the intricacy, the complexity of most 
of the Indian characters, it is utterly impossible to reduce them to 
so small a size as the Roman may be, without rendering them al- 
together indistinct, or even illegible. In this way, twice the 
quantity of paper, and nearly twice the quantity of binding ma- 
terials and labour must be lavished for nought. In other words, 
books printed in the Indian characters will cost nearly double 
what the same books would cost if printed in the English charac- 
ters. And must not Hindu parents rejoice at the success of a 
plan that promises to save half the amount which they would 
otherwise have to pay for books in the education of their children ? 
And must not the proposal that would save so many rupees to 
every Hindu parent annually be one of the best ever announced 
in this land ? 

8. As the multiplicity of different characters creates number- 
less difficulties in the way of studying the native languages, the 
mines of learning which those are said to possess, remain unex- 
plored from age to age. Consequently, the treasures of knowledge 



137 

contained in them, continue hidden and concealed not only from 
Europeans, but from natives themselves. No native, not even a 
Bhattacharjya, though so learned as to deserve the epithet of 
Maha-mahopadhya, can ever expect to know a tenth part of the 
lucubrations of his ancestors, so long as there is such a variety of 
written characters. And if even a Hindu Pandit cannot know a 
tenth part of the strange and rare histories, philologies, rhetorics, 
logics, metaphysics, astronomies, geographies, and theologies, 
which have been accumulated by the sages of Hindustan — will not 
unlearned natives and the Pandits of other countries begin to sus- 
pect that there are no such stores in existence ? How then can 
such suspicions be removed ? How can it be shewn to all people, 
in every land, that the Hindus possess such wonderful piles of 
written shasters, which at present lie concealed from view, behind 
thick jungles of new and strangely varied characters ? What plan 
can be imagined half so well adapted to this purpose, as that now 
proposed, viz. to transcribe the whole of their writings, if the Hin- 
dus so wish it, into one uniform character, that is already univer- 
sally known — known by all the civilized and learned in Europe, 
Asia, Africa, and America ? 

If they were to do this, the Hindus would only be following 
the example of the English themselves. Formerly the English 
language was written in various peculiar characters, which were 
known by the names of Saxon, German text, &c. but by degrees 
all these were discarded, and the Roman character (which is the 
one at present used in writing English) was adopted in place of 
them all. Now do you suppose that the existing English litera- 
ture was obscured by this change ? On the contrary, as the lan- 
guage now became transferred into a character which was univer- 
sally current throughout the civilized world, the general knowledge 
of it was greatly promoted ; and to this day, when it is desired to 
bring into notice books or manuscripts in any of the old characters, 
they are as a matter of course turned into the Roman characters, 
and they then become at once accessible to the whole world. If, 
therefore, any body should hereafter object to the plan of chang- 

R 



138 

ing the character, let this be your answer, that the most civilized 
and prosperous nation in the world have already tried it, and 
that the experiment has been attended with complete success. 
What ground of confidence as to what is good can we have so sure 
as the experience of the wise ? 

Instead, therefore, of obscuring the Hindu literature, and tar- 
nishing the merits of Hindu authors, as some ignorantly suppose, 
this plan is the best possible for bringing the whole range of Hin- 
du literature to light, and loading the Hindu authors with such 
honours as they deserve. The change of characters produces no 
change in words, dates, or names. All the words of the Indian 
languages, all historical dates, and all proper names of persons, 
places, and events, remain unchanged, and so far as this plan is 
concerned, unchangeable. If then, the Hindus really wish that 
they should no longer be accounted ignorant or barbarous — if they 
really wish that all nations on earth should know what prodigious 
masses of singular writings they possess — they ought immediately 
to combine in one grand association, and resolve to write, print, 
and publish all their books in English characters. If they do this, 
the whole civilized world may know the extent of their merits. 

That no one may presume to doubt the truth of this representa- 
tion, we refer to the No. of the Quarterly Review published in 
London, in the month of October, last year. This work, as many 
of the learned Hindus already know, is one of the highest litera- 
ry authorities, not only in Europe, but in the whole world. Now 
hear, what the Quarterly Review says : — " If the Sanskrit were 
printed in European (meaning Roman or English) characters, we 
are convinced that a large class of persons would acquire at least 
its rudiments, who are now deterred from similar studies by the 
formidable appearance of a new character looking them in the face 
at the very outset." Here then is a glorious field of ambition 
open to the wise and learned among the Hindus. If they trans- 
cribe all their works in English characters, their literature, science, 
and religion will be known throughout Europe, and every country 
of the civilized world. 



139 



Who then is so blind, as not to discern the marvellous excellen- 
cies of the plan now proposed ? 

The foregoing are some of the manifold advantages which would 
attend the substitution of the English in place of the Indian alpha- 
bets. They may be thus briefly summed up : — 

1 . The substitution of the English alphabet would facilitate the 
progress of a Hindu in learning his own vernacular language. 

2. It would facilitate his progress in learning the English 
language. 

3. It would facilitate his progress in learning several other lan- 
guages, necessary to the carrying on of business. 

4. It would break down the barriers that at present separate 
the Hindus from one another, and lead to free communication, and 
a beneficial interchange of sentiment throughout the land. 

5. It would enable Hindus of ordinary ability and perseverance 
to master almost all the languages of India, and so put it in their 
power to benefit its countless tribes and families. 

6. It would greatly assist young and old in reading, writing, 
&c, any language, with precision and propriety. 

7. It would save a great deal of money, to every Hindu parent, 
by greatly diminishing the price of books. 

8. It would bring to light the entire mass of Hindu literature, 
science, and theology, and make the claims of Hindu authors known 
to all the learned in the four quarters of the world. 

More advantages might easily be enumerated : but are not those 
amply sufficient to prove the excellency of the present proposal ? 
Are not these more than sufficient to demonstrate, that it is fraught 
with the richest blessings to the people of Hindustan ? And if so, 
however unintentionally, are not those the enemies of the people 
who object to and oppose it ? And are not those the best friends 
of the people, who are its most strenuous advocates ? 

We speak unto you as unto wise; judge ye. 

A true Friend to the Natives. 



r 2 



140 



ON THE ADAPTATION OF THE ROMAN ALPHABET TO THE 
ORTHOGRAPHY OF ORIENTAL LANGUAGES. 

(Extracted from the Journal of the Asiatic Society for June, 1834J 

All who have devoted themselves to the acquirement of any of 
the languages of India must have experienced in the irreconcile- 
able difference of the alphabets of the East and West a stumbling 
block in the porch of their studies, and a source of constant doubt 
and difficulty, whenever the occasion has arisen for expressing in 
the letters of their mother tongue sounds and vocables belonging 
to any of those languages. It is the scholar's object to write the 
words so that they shall be read with a correct pronunciation by 
the uninitiated, and at the same time show the true spelling of the 
original. He seeks therefore the letters of known pronunciation 
that come nearest, not only to the sounds he desires to represent, 
but likewise to the letters used in the language from which the 
word is taken. Unfortunately it is not always easy to find letters 
that will answer this double purpose, and the difficulty is much 
increased by the circumstance, that all the vowels and several of 
the consonants in use have more than one sound in the same lan- 
guage of Europe, and some of them half a dozen sounds at least, 
if the varieties of all the countries which use the Roman alphabet 
are taken into account. "What then was to be done when India 
fell into European hands, and the necessity arose for continually 
writing Indian words in books and public correspondence ? Every 
one at first of course had to decide for himself, and unfortunately 
they who commenced the work of writing Asiatic names in the 
alphabets of Europe were not scholars. At present we shall con- 
fine ourselves to the proceedings of our own countrymen in this 
respect, putting out of view all reference to the modes of writing 
adopted in Erance and Germany, and elsewhere, and those in par- 
ticular which have been adopted recently, in consequence of the 
efforts making by the literati of Europe, to bring into vogue the 



141 



Sanscrit language and its literature, at the very time that the half 
informed of our countrymen are seeking to discredit both here. 

It would appear that they who first had occasion to write in 
English the names or words of the East, bethought themselves of 
the sounds in that language which came nearest to those they de- 
sired to represent, and spelled the words accordingly : thus sipahee 
was very generally spelt seapoy, doubtless from the similarity of 
its sound to the well known word teapoy, and in the jargon of the 
day, Surajood-doula was corrupted into Sir Roger Dowler, and 
Allahabad become known as the Isle of Bats. Many absurdities 
of this description might be pointed out were it our object to seek 
them : even Governor Holwell, though himself a Bengalee 
scholar, has in his printed tracts, Morattors — Shaw Zadda — 
Genana — Patsha — Shaiv Allum — Phirmaund — Metre (for Mi- 
tur), &c. &c. He has also Sou Raja Doivla which is nearly as 
ridiculous as the English knighthood of that Nuwab. 

This method of writing from the ear did very well so long as it 
was the half-informed addressing the absolutely ignorant. The 
transmutations were precisely of the same description as those of 
which we find examples, not only in the Greek and Roman me- 
thods of writing Teutonic and Asiatic names, but in the Leghorn 
and Cales of the old English writers of the past century, the Na- 
ples and Venice of the present day, and the Ecosse and Galles and 
Espagne, into which the less pronounceable native names of those 
countries have been softened in France. 

But as the knowledge of the languages of the East extended, 
and they who had to write became themselves well acquainted 
with the true pronunciation and orthography of the words and 
names they were using, and felt likewise that they were addressing 
others as well informed upon the subject as themselves, they began 
to seek the means of spelling true — that is, of using in English 
corresponding letters for those used in the language from which 
the word or name might be taken. The Persian and Arabic are 
languages that have long been known in Europe, and the force and 
power of each of the letters of those alphabets have accordingly 



142 



been attempted to be expressed in various ways, according to the 
native country of the interpreter ; but the first we believe who 
accurately gave to the public the Nagree, Devanagree, and Ben- 
galee alphabets was Mr. Halhed in the Preface to his version of 
the Code of Hindoo Law, compiled under the orders of Warren 
Hastings in 1775. His consonants correspond very nearly with 
those of Sir William Jones's alphabet, except that he makes no 
distinction between the hard and soft d, t, dh, and th. The short 
vowel sg he writes with a short e, the letter % with a double ee, 
bearing similarly the short mark : ^, is expressed by de ; ^, he 
writes I and §t, 6u. Every vowel according to this system had 
its long or short mark above it, which was very inconvenient either 
for printing or writing. 

When the Asiatic Society was established, Sir William 
Jones saw the necessity of introducing a consistent mode of writ- 
ing all Indian words. Not satisfied with this system of Mr. 
Halhed, he devised the alphabet that bears his name, and is still 
used by that learned body in its proceedings ; but neither the influ- 
ence nor the reputation of this great linguist was sufficient to pro- 
cure for his alphabet the general adoption so desirable, and indeed 
so essential, to the purpose he had in view. It continued as a sort 
of Devanagree for the learned par excellence ; a style of writing 
to be reverenced and respected, but not imitated. In spite of 
every endeavour to recommend the Society's alphabet for universal 
use, the business of the country continued to be conducted either 
in the jargon spelling first adopted from similarity of sound, or 
with the ad libitum improvements of those, who, knowing the 
correct spelling of the original, adopted the letters they thought 
best calculated to express the true sound of the words properly 
pronounced. It is now near fifty years since the attempt was first 
made to introduce this obvious benefit of a consistent and correct 
alphabet, and yet Sir William Jones's mode of writing has 
gained no ground in India, whatever may have been its fate else- 
where. What can have been the reason for this ? Does not the 
fact itself afford irrefragable evidence that there must be some in- 



143 



herent defect in the system that induced its rejection, and led to 
others being preferred. There it was, recommended by the Asi- 
atic Society, composed of the principal civil servants, and of all 
in the military, clerical, and medical professions, who were entitled 
by knowledge of the subject, or by situation, to take the lead in 
such a matter. There was this Society, periodically putting forth 
its volumes, and all its principal members publishing their works 
according to the orthography of the illustrious founder ; yet no one 
out of the pale, and not all of those within it, could be brought to 
spell names, in their correspondence, as the Society spelt them. 
For fifty years this tree of Sir William Jones's planting has 
been stationary or has grown like the aloe repulsive and disagree- 
able, living still, but putting forth no branches and yielding no 
fruit. Who after this can say that there must not be something 
in this system repugnant to the ideas and preconceived notions of 
those whose language is English ? The powers and pronunciations 
given to the different letters are manifestly not such as have been 
recognized and adopted as just and appropriate by those who read 
and write that language. Another system has gained ground in 
its stead, and to its prejudice, and this in spite of the great names 
of Jones and Colebrooke and Wilson, whose adherence to the 
antiquated style has prevented its sinking into absolute disuse and 
oblivion. Let us inquire then what is this other system, and what 
the claims it possesses to the preference of the unlearned. 

Towards the close of Lord Cornwallis's government, Dr. 
John Borthwick Gilchrist produced his Dictionary and 
Grammar of the Hindoostanee language, and as matter of neces- 
sity, prefaced both by explaining the force of all the letters in use 
in the language, and the corresponding vowels and consonants of 
the Roman alphabet, by which he proposed to express them. 
The difference between his system and that of Sir William 
Jones lies entirely in the vowels : the short unexpressed letter m 
which Mr. Halhed wrote e was written a by Sir William 
Jones and u by Dr. Gilchrist ; the ee and ee of Halhed, i, 
I of Sir W. Jones, were rendered i and ee by Gilchrist ; the 



144 

do, 60, of Halhed, v, u of Jones, were expressed by oo ; and 
the l, ai, of the two former systems by y, corrected but not im- 
proved to ue ; and lastly, the o'u of Halhed and au of Jones by 
ou corrected to no. 

The more taking and popular part of this system lies evidently 
in the use of the short u instead of a, for the silent unexpressed in- 
herent letter of the languages of India : people could not be 
brought to write bat for the sound of but , tab for tub, and patee 
for putee. Having the choice therefore, they discarded the letter 
which never in any of the words of any of the languages within 
their knowledge had the sound it was proposed to give to it. The 
adoption of oo, instead of Sir W. Jones's a, followed as a neces- 
sary consequence of the appropriation of u to the short sound ; and 
au for the sound of ow in how was so unnatural, that it was glad- 
ly discarded for ou. 

It does not appear that the Government took any part, until 
very recently, in promoting the use of one or other of these sys- 
tems : they had each therefore a fair field and no favor for thirty 
years at least. During the whole of that period the knowledge of 
the languages was extending, and the old jargon was disappearing 
from all the public departments, finding only a sanctuary and 
stronghold that bade defiance to all reform within the precincts of 
the Supreme Court. The issue was in a decided leaning from 
the first to the system of Gilchrist. This has now been that of 
all official correspondence for fifteen or twenty years at least, 
whereas it will not be found that the orthography of Sir William 
Jones has taken root in any single department, pertinaciously as 
certain learned individuals of high authority have adhered to it. 

In 1822, the design was conceived of forming an accurate re- 
cord in the English language and character of all the land tenures 
of the country. It was felt to be necessary to determine upon 
some alphabet or system, for the conversion of names correctly, 
prior to the formation of these registers, and then first did the Go- 
vernment officers indicate any system under authority for prefer- 
ence. The merits of each method were fully weighed and consi- 



145 

dered, prior to the determination, and the scheme of Gilchrist 
was adopted, simplified by the rejection of some of his quaint 
methods of expressing the nicer distinctions of sound. This alpha- 
bet was circulated, and great progress was made all over the coun- 
try in producing registers, in which the uames of persons, and 
places, and properties were so written that no one could hereafter 
find difficulty in writing them back, into any given character, 
upon bare inspection. 

Contemporaneously with this measure, and as part of the same 
scheme, revenue surveys were put in hand, and maps on a large 
scale were constructed, in which the names of every place or ob- 
ject were accurately entered according to the same system. Up 
to this time, no attempt had ever been made to make this grand 
improvement in the geography of India. The maps of Bengal 
were copied to the letter from the surveys of Ren NELL made in 
the era of jargon, and though better spelt than most of the docu- 
ments of that period, yet still partaking largely of the miscellane- 
ous mode of writing, so liable to mislead. All the surveyors sub- 
sequently employed had been left to pick up the names of places 
by the ear, and it had never been made an instruction to them to 
ascertain how they were written in any dialect or language of In- 
dia, and to transfer them according to system into their maps. 
The surveyors too unfortunately were very seldom scholars. In 
order to show the consequences of this neglect, and to expose at 
once the absurdity of trusting to the ear in a matter of this kind, 
an extract is annexed* from a map of the Dooab, compiled not ten 
years ago, and now in our possession : it bears the official signature 
of the surveyor-general of the day, and professes to be from the 
best materials then in the archives of that department. In this 
extract it will be seen that the well known road from Cawnpoor 
(Kanhpoor) to Ukburpoor is laid down double, being taken appa- 
rently from two routes made with compasses, or theodolites, vary- 
ing in a small degree, so as to give a different direction, and the 

* See Plate. 



146 



copyists of the surveyor-general's department have not discovered 
that the routes are the same, because all the names are spelled 
differently. There are regularly 

Kuttra, Gittera, 

Chichehree, Chichindj, 

Bhysour, Bhysawn, Bheisawn, (Bhenour ?) 

Fattip 1 *. Futtehp r . 

Reneea, Runneah, 

Oomrun, Oomeron. 

With sundry other names, till one road comes to Akberpoor and 
the other to Akbarpoor, the relative distances of all these places 
being the same. Like absurdities might be shown in many maps 
similarly constructed from materials, in which the names have 
been set down by the ear without the observance of any system of 
spelling. It is no fault of the map compiler if he has not recog- 
nized Chicheree to be the same place as Chichindy, and Kuttra 
as Gittera, when they stand in two maps in positions not exactly 
corresponding. The fault was in the employment of an officer to 
survey, without instructing him specifically how he was to write 
the names of his map. The revenue surveys, so far as they went, 
effectually corrected this error ; and what is more, the maps, con- 
structed by the officers employed in this department, are capable 
of being converted with confidence into any character, without 
each name being as at present, an object of separate inquiry and 
research, whenever it is desired to publish a map in the Persian, 
the Hindee, or in any other character of the country. 

But to return to our subject : the Record Committees, where- 
soever they were established, succeeded entirely in reforming the 
orthography of names in the zila dufturs. That they did not do 
more, but after involving considerable expence, failed to provide 
the desired land registers, was owing to many causes, which need 
not be discussed here. The effect of these institutions in confirm- 
ing the use of the Gilchristian system is all we have now to do 
with : that effect will we presume not be denied. The leaning had 
been to this system for thirty years before, but at last the act of 
Government, and the specific exertions of all public officers 



147 



throughout the country, continued for nearly eight years consecu- 
tively while the Committees lasted, fixed and established this 
system of Gilchrist, as the orthography of office and of business. 
Even though there were not in it any innate inherent superiority or 
grounds for preference, even were it the inferior system of the two, 
still this fact ought, one would think, to secure it from any hasty 
attempt at change. Except there be some obvious apparent de- 
fects pointed out, the undoubted ascertainment of which has been 
the result of actual experience, would it not be madness to think 
of discarding what had been so established ? What then is to be 
thought of this new attempt of Mr. Trevelyan, to set up again 
the rejected alphabet of Sir William Jones, and by the gratui- 
tous circulation of thousands of copies to diffuse and disseminate, 
as if from authority, a system fully and formally tried and found 
wanting ? 

The Journal of the Asiatic Society, being a work of science, 
conducted under the special countenance and support of that So- 
ciety, will always be respected for the matter it contains ; and it 
signifies little in what garb it may choose to present its Asiatic 
names. Allowance will be made for the consistency of the So- 
ciety's adherence to the system of its venerable founder, and all 
that read its proceedings know well what they have to expect, 
and are prepared to encounter familiar letters applied to strange 
uses after the manner practised by this Society for half a century. 
But now that the Gilchristian method of writing has been so long- 
established for record, for surveys, and for making familiar to the 
uninitiated public, the sounds and names of Hindoostan, every 
official man and every man of sense must protest against the pre- 
sent attempt to introduce once more the discarded system, one too 
that from its use of the a for the short u would change the spell- 
ing of every word and name from one end of India to the other. 

Let the Sir William Jones's system, his a and his i, i, and 
his long and short u be reserved, like the Devanagree, for recon- 
dite science : there his alphabet has its footing, and no one desires 
to eject it from its stronghold : but for business let us have our 

S 2 



148 

current Nagree, the short u and the ee, and the oo, which have 
grown into use from their ready adaptation to the ear, and from 
the preference secured for them by all the associations of sound to 
letters, which we have been accustomed to from our infancy. 

In the pages of the Journal there has appeared a notice lauda- 
tory of Mr. Trevelyan's attempt to effect by a coup de main a 
change in all the established methods of writing mofussil names. 
As this Journal has now for itself so wide a circulation in the in- 
terior, it is necessary that its pages should not be made to serve 
the party views of the advocates of any one exclusive system, but 
that the merits of each in its particular line should be fairly stated. 
The Sanscrit scholar will perhaps find his advantage in following 
the alphabet of Sir William Jones, which is that of the gram- 
mars and dictionaries, and of most of the translations from that 
language ; but he that is content with the Persic, Oordoo, or the 
familiar literature of Hindoostan, the man of business and of the 
world, will find all the books, the dictionaries, and grammars, 
and vocabularies, to which he is in the habit of referring, and all 
the records and public documents that fall under his observation, 
written uniformly in the character of Gilchrist. There is little 
fear that even the weight of the Journal's recommendation will be 
successful in superseding what is so established. If the world 
were not wide enough to hold both systems — if the order had gone 
forth from CassAR, that one only should stand, and the issue were, 
a helium ad internecionem between the two — then might the Jour- 
nal fitly advocate the cause of its scientific mode of writing to save 
it from destruction and the sponge : but so long as there is no at- 
tempt to encroach on the ground it occupies, or to interfere with 
its peculiar province in literature ; while it is suffered to luxuriate 
in the paradise of Sanscrit, without any attempt to foist in its rival, 
even as an humble companion of its pleasures in that Eden of joy ; 
why should the votaries of this learned system strive to gain for it 
an universal dominion, for which it has been found unfitted, and 
assume the offensive against the system in use for business ? Let 
each retain its own, and both abide together in peace and good 



149 



will and harmony, holding forth in the facilities they jointly offer 
an invitation to all people to adopt either one or the other, accord- 
ingly as they find either most convenient for their purpose, and 
under the assurance that the object, which is to obtain such a me- 
thod of writing as shall afford a ready means of transferring the 
word back into its native character, will equally be accomplished, 
whichever may be the character adopted. Both systems represent 
perfectly to the scholar the letters used in the original languages, 
but it is contended that the Gilchrist alphabet, as now gene- 
rally introduced and used in the public offices of this presidency, 
conveys to the uninitiated a more correct and true notion of the 
proper pronunciation, than the antiquated and rejected system of 
Sir William Jones, and therefore is the best adapted to busi- 
ness. Through the pages of the Journal let the European public 
of India be undeceived on this point. The attempt to dislodge the 
system of Gilchrist is entirely a matter of individual specula- 
tion, and is certainly not the result of any inconvenience felt, or 
dissatisfaction expressed with it, by the Government, or by any 
class of public officers or persons whatsoever. 

H. T. P. 



DEFENCE OF SIR WILLIAM JONES 7 SYSTEM. 

It seems now to be admitted with scarcely a dissenting voice 
that the plan of expressing the languages of the East in the Eng- 
lish character offers the best and nearest prospect of fixing and 
enriching the Native Dialects, and of establishing a common me- 
dium of communication, epistolary as well as oral, between the 
people and their rulers — that great desideratum, the absence of 
which has always so much impeded the due administration of jus- 
tice in this country, and stood in the way of our taking root in the 



150 



affections of our subjects to the extent, which the rectitude of our 
acts and intentions might entitle us to expect. The principle, 
therefore, that the languages of the East should be expressed in the 
character of the West, and that by degrees one written character 
should be made to pervade the whole world, has been admitted by 
a decided majority of those persons who from their education and 
habits of mind are qualified to give an opinion on the subject. The 
only question which remains to be discussed is the particular 
orthography, or in other words, the particular mode of applying 
the European characters to the Asiatic languages which it is most 
desirable to adopt. Hitherto public opinion has been divided be- 
tween two systems, one of which (the Italian system), from its 
having been first introduced into the East by Sir W. Jones, is 
generally known by that distinguished scholar's name, and the other 
system was invented by Mr. Gilchrist and is called after his name. 
It is necessary to premise, that, as far as the consonants are 
concerned, there is no discrepancy between the two systems worth 
contending about. The only difference between them is in the 
vowels and diphthongs, and even in this case only in some of them, 
while in others both systems exactly agree : but in order that the 
reader may have the subject clearly before him, we will subjoin a 
table of the vowels and diphthongs of both systems. 

Sir William Jones'. 



a-above 




a -art 


i-in 




i- Police 


u-Pttsh 




u-rwle 


e-there 




ai- aisle 


o-Note 




au-Cawsa [Latin pronunciation] 




Dr. 


Gilchrist's. 


u-Cull* 




a-Call 


i-Kill 




ee-Keel* 


oo-wool* 




oo-Cool* 


e-there 




ue- chyle* 


o-Cole 




uo-Cowl* 



* The letters marked thus * are expressed differently in the two systems. 



151 



Out of ten vowels and diphthong sounds, therefore, four are ex- 
pressed alike in both systems, which reduces the field of contest 
between the two systems to within very narrow limits. Taking 
consonants and vowels together, there are about seventy different 
variations of sounds in Hindusthani, of which only six are express- 
ed differently. This is the utmost extent of the quarrel between 
the shade of Sir Wm. Jones and Dr. Gilchrist. 

We shall endeavour to state as briefly as possible the relative 
advantages and disadvantages of the two systems. 

Sir Wm. Jones' Plan is systematic and complete in all its parts, 
so that in every case in which an analogy exists between different 
sounds, a corresponding analogy will be found to pervade the signs 
by which they are represented. Thus the long sound of a is a, of 
i, i ; and of u, u ; and the diphthong ai, which is compounded of a 
and i, is represented by those letters, and au (ow) which is com- 
pounded of a and u, by au. The consequence of this strict atten- 
tion to preserve an analogy in the sign corresponding to the variations 
in the sound is, that the acquisition of the Alphabet is greatly fa- 
cilitated to the learner, who in fact has to make himself acquainted 
with only five elementary signs which are the representatives of 
as many original sounds, and the remaining five are only elongated 
forms or composites of these. — He has to learn a, i, u, e, o, and 
a is only the long form of a distinguished by the usual mark, i of 
i, and u of u, and ai is the composite of a and t, and au of a and u. 

In Dr. Gilchrist's plan, with a single exception, there is no 
analogy whatever between the long and short forms of the vowels, 
and between the diphthongs and their component vowels. Thus 
in his system a is the long form of u, ee of i, and the diphthong 
ai is represented by ue, and au by uo. It is needless to dilate 
on the confusion which this want of system must produce in the 
mind of every learner. No help is here provided for him, and 
instead of being guided from step to step by a change in the form 
of the character, sufficient to distinguish the modification in the 
sound, while enough is retained of the original letter to mark the 
elementary connection, he is perplexed by a variety of characters 



152 



between which no kind of analogy is capable of being traced. 
In short, instead of having only five signs to get by heart, he has 
no less than nine. In tracing the analogy between corresponding 
modifications of sound, this plan is worse than if no assistance 
were afforded him. In this eccentric system of letters long 
vowels are actually divorced from their partners and so disguised 
as to render it impossible to recognize the original connection be- 
tween them, and diphthongs are in like manner kidnapped from 
their parent vowels, and disfigured worse than gypsey children. 
Who would suppose that u is the legitimate husband of a, that ee 
is the devoted wife of i, that ue is the interesting offspring of a and 
2, and uo the eldest hope of a and u. This is not a system of or- 
thography ; but, if I may be allowed to invent a word, of kako- 
grapky ; of confusion, mystification and absurdity. It is singular 
that when a man sat down with a carte blanche before him to in- 
vent a system of letters, he was not able to devise something bet- 
ter than this ; and it is still more so that having the labours of his 
learned predecessor Sir W. Jones to profit by when he altered, he 
should have altered so much for the worse. 

Another advantage of Sir W. Jones's plan is that, besides be- 
ing complete in itself, owing tot he perfect analogy which exists 
between the different letters, it bears a strict correspondence 
throughout to the great Indian or Deva Nagari alphabet. All 
the alphabets derived from the latter are very systematic, and a 
scheme which is otherwise cannot properly represent them. But 
Sir W. Jones does it exactly as will be seen from the following 
table : 

^ a ^T a 

\ i \ i 

S u ^3) u 

^T e ^ ai 

irr o ^rr an 

The natives of India are therefore already quite familiar with 
the idea of distinguishing the modification of sound by a corres- 
ponding modification of sign, and when they see the same plan 



153 

adopted in the anglified version of the alphabet, they immediately 
recognize the propriety of it, and enter into the spirit of the scheme. 
As the new orthography is mainly intended for the people of India, 
the circumstance of its being entirely coincident with their precon- 
ceived feelings and ideas must be allowed to be an advantage of no 
small importance. 

It is hardly necessary to observe, that no kind of analogy exists 
between Dr. Gilchrist's and the Indian or Deva Nagari alphabet. 
When an Indian reads Sir William Jones's alphabet, he sees a 
long a immediately succeeding the short a ; a long i the short i, 
and a long u the short u (the long vowel being in each case dis- 
tinguished by a mark as in the Sanscrit) which is just what his 
previous knowledge would lead him to expect, but when he comes 
to Dr. Gilchrist's plan, he finds a following u, and ee following i. 
What therefore would be his opinion of the comparative merits of 
the two systems ? Would he not say, that one is in every respect 
as complete as the alphabet of the Gods (Deva Nagari) while the 
other is an inexplicable mass of confusion. 

Another advantage attending Sir William Jones's system is that 
it is not only analogous to, but is the very system itself which is 
used in expressing Latin and all its derivations ; that is, Italian, 
Spanish, French, &c. It is true that in England we do not pro- 
nounce Latin in this way, but this is only because we have barba- 
rized it, and made it accord with our Saxon pronunciation. Even 
in Scotland and Ireland, to say nothing of continental Europe, 
they read Latin exactly in the way in which it is now proposed to 
read Hindusthani. This entire coincidence of the new Hindusthani 
orthography with the orthography of the learned language of the 
whole of Europe, and with that of most of its colloquial languages, 
is a point of great importance. Even in the present age its advan- 
tage will be felt, in so far as the learned all over Europe, and in 
most cases the vulgar also, will by this means obtain direct access 
to our Indian Literature; and what is still more deserving of con- 
sideration, a foundation will be laid for the establishment in due 
time of an uniform system of orthography throughout the world, 

T 



154 



This is an object, which, however distant the prospect of accom- 
plishing it may be, no man who has the slightest regard for pos- 
terity, should ever lose sight of. Next to the establishment of an 
universal language, that grand desideratum of the philosopher and 
the philanthropist, the establishment of an universal system of or- 
thography will most tend to the production of unrestricted freedom 
of intercourse between all the families of the human race ; and the 
one has also a direct tendency to bring about the other. Now if 
Gilchrist's plan were to be generally maintained in India, so far 
from having advanced a step towards this grand result, we should 
make a decidedly retrograde movement, and the proceeding would 
be tantamount to shutting the door to the possibility of an uniform 
system of writing and printing being ever adopted in the eastern and 
western hemispheres. Gilchrist's plan is utterly abhorrent from 
the Roman family of languages, and it does not even coincide with 
the English, as will be shewn hereafter. 

Sir William Jones' plan has a simple character for every sim- 
ple sound, while in Dr. Gilchrist's simple sounds are in three in- 
stances expressed by double letters [ee, co and oo] . This, to say 
the best of it, is an extremely clumsy contrivance, and in the bu- 
siness of nations and course of ages it would lead to an immense 
unnecessary expenditure of time and money. That this is the case, 
may be seen by taking the example of a single sentence, 

Bees tees moorghabee huen toomharee peechee, 

which in Sir William Jones' orthography would be 

Bis tis murghabi hain tumbari pichi 

There are 38 letters in this sentence written according to Dr. 
Gilchrist's plan, and only 30 if it be written according to Jones ; 
that is to say, in only six words the former exceeds the latter by 
no less than 8 letters. Apply this to a book, and conceive the 
waste of types, paper, and valuable time which must result from 
it. Supposing an octavo volume, printed according to Sir Wil- 
liam Jones's plan, to consist of 500 pages, and each page to con- 
tain on an average 304 words, the total number of words in the 



155 



volume would be 1,52,000, and if the same volume were printed 
according to Mr. Gilchrist's plan, then at the rate of 8 additional 
letters for every six words, the number of extra letters will amount 
to 1,90,000, which would make an addition to the book of 136 
pages, and instead of consisting of 500 pages it would consist of 
636. Apply this to the entire Literature of half the world through 
a succession of ages, and conceive the result, if you can. If this 
average is considered to be above the mark, I have no objection 
to suppose that every six of Gilchrist's words contain only half the 
number of double letters which those above instanced do, and at 
this rate the book printed according to Gilchrist's plan would ex- 
ceed what it would be if printed according to Sir William Jones' 
plan by 68 pages. 

Lastly, there are three characters in Gilchrist's alphabet which 
do not belong to English or to any other language under the sun 
which we have ever heard of. These are oo, ue and uo. With 
the exception of the pupils of Dr. Gilchrist who, from early asso- 
ciations and respect to their master, may naturally be expected to 
be admirers of his scheme, these characters are utterly barbarous 
to every description of people ; and it is therefore impossible 
for them to secure a general recognition for themselves in the 
breasts either of Englishmen, European Foreigners or Indians. 
Sir William Jones' plan, as has been before stated, contains no 
arbitrary sounds whatever, but is in every respect in strict accord- 
ance with the Latin and Latino- European languages. Even the 
au, of which no example is to be found in English, is perfectly 
familiar to every Scotchman and Irishman who knows Latin, and 
if a youth at Dublin College or the High School at Edinburgh 
were to pronounce causa like cawsa he would be immediately 
corrected and told to sound it cowsa, and the same of course every 
where on the continent of Europe. 

It will be proper in this place to say a few words in regard to 
the general principles of the two systems, and the causes which 
have led to their respective adoption. Sir William Jones well 
knew, that the Romans and the Indians derive their origin from 

T 2 



156 



the same family of the human race, and that the analogy which is 
every where perceptible in their mythology and their language 
extends also in a high degree to their alphabets. The arrange- 
ment of both is exactly the same. In both the same letters have 
exactly the same powers, and while one is the most perfect alpha- 
bet in the east, the other is acknowledged to bear the palm in the 
west. 

Sir William Jones also knew that, when the barbarous Saxon 
Monks came to apply this alphabet to their language, they did it 
without any regard to system, and took no pains to preserve the 
original powers of the letters, i was pushed out of its place by ee, 
and made to do duty for ai. a was generally superseded by u, 
and the services of u having been pre-occupied in this manner, oo 
was made to officiate for it. Even this arrangement was by no 
means constantly adhered to, and thousands of instances might be 
mentioned of the application of the same letter to several different 
sounds and of different letters to the same sound. The English 
system of spelling in short (I protest against its being called or- 
thography) is a labyrinth, a chaos, an absurdity, a disgrace to our 
age and nation. It forms the principal difficulty of our language 
(which is the more provoking as there is nothing in the structure 
of English which calls for it) and causes annually increasing mil- 
lions in all the four quarters of the globe an enormous unnecessary 
expenditure of valuable time, and still more valuable temper. The 
amount of vexation and discouragement and loss of time which is 
caused every year, particularly to foreigners, by the extremely in- 
correct way of spelling now in use, is incalculable. 

But to return to the subject immediately under consideration, 
Sir William Jones and Dr. Gilchrist had two systems of letters 
before them ; one of which was acknowledged to be the most per- 
fect which the wit of man had ever devised, and in every respect 
corresponded with the systems already in use in India and on the 
continent of Europe ; and the other was perhaps the most im- 
perfect the world had ever beheld, and totally differed from those 
which prevailed both in the East and West, England and North 



157 

America alone excepted. Sir William Jones was a noble Philo- 
logist. He imitated the universal governor as far as it is permitted 
to man to do so, and embracing the whole world in his view, mar- 
ried the East and West by promoting by his sanction and influence 
the adoption in both hemispheres of the same mode of writing. As 
his object was to fertilize the whole world, he drew from the 
fountain "head ; but Gilchrist limited himself to the narrow circle 
of English spelling, and by the adoption of that corrupt, eccentric 
system, opposed an effectual bar to his system ever extending be- 
yond his pupils and the readers of his own books. 

It should be borne in mind that Sir William Jones and Mr. 
Gilchrist both drew from the mine of English letters, and that the 
only difference between them was that one appropriated the dross, 
while the other culled the pure gold. Gilchrist chose the most 
corrupt and imperfect parts of our system, while Jones selected 
those which were consistent with true principles and coincided 
with the most perfect alphabets both of the East and West. The 
i in Police is almost as well known in English as the double ee in 
feel. The u in pull is certainly better known than co which is 
pure Gilchristian. The u in rule is as familiar as the double oo 
in cooL The ai in aisle is assuredly far more common than ue } 
which is another arbitrary sign to be found no where except in the 
books printed by Dr. Gilchrist himself. The au in causa (Latin 
pronunciation) is also better understood than uo, which is another 
Gilchristian hieroglyphic ; and even the short a, the stumbling 
block of our Gilchristian friends is quite as familiar to us as their 
favorite u, and any body who will take the trouble to look in the 
English Dictionary, will see it used at the commencement of 500 
words like above, about, abound, and so forth. 

It has fallen to the lot of our generation to introduce the Eng- 
lish letters into India, and the simple question for us to determine 
was, whether we should choose that part of the English literary 
system which is corrupt and limited, or that which is complete and 
universal. Since^most Europeans in India are from their youth 
thoroughly imbued with Gilchrist's system, if we had desired to 



158 



obtain an ephemeral popularity, we must have chosen the least 
perfect plan ; but this was not our object. We were not concert- 
ing plans for the satisfaction of a few hundred Europeans. The 
benefit of the hundreds of millions of our dark faced brethren of 
Asia was our aim, and therefore, undeterred by the clamor which 
we foresaw would be raised by a portion of our countrymen wed- 
ded by education and habit to the system we felt ourselves called 
upon to reject, we adopted the notation which was most perfect in 
the abstract, and which most nearly corresponded with Indian and 
European feelings. 

It will be satisfactory to our friends to know what we have our- 
selves but lately become acquainted with, that a few years ago 
when the American Missionaries first committed the language of 
the Sandwich Islands to writing, they adopted this same Italian 
Orthography, the standard of which has now been raised in India. 
This is a remarkable testimony to the intrinsic excellence of the 
system. Two bodies of people belonging to different nations, and 
situated nearly on opposite sides of the Globe, were called upon to 
deliberate independently of each other, regarding the choice of a 
system of letters, which it was proposed to introduce into less ci- 
vilized countries, and what was the result ? Their selection both 
fell upon the Italian system, thus confirming what had previously 
been maintained regarding its superiority over all the other Euro- 
pean systems. Ought not this fact to encourage us to proceed with 
energy and zeal ? The Americans are the natural allies of our na- 
tion for the diffusion of every good word and work throughout the 
world, and we joyfully hail their accession as our colleagues in the 
establishment of a correct universal system of letters. The follow- 
ing list of Sandwich Island words, expressed both in the old and 
new style, extracted from a History of the American Mission in 
those Islands, is annexed. 



NA 


.MES OF THE ] 


[SLANDS. 


Improved Spelling. 




Former Spelling. 


Ha-wai-i. 




Hah-w_ye*e. Owlvyhee. 


Mau-i. 




Mow-ee, 



159 

Improved Spelling. Former Spelling. 

IMo-Io-kai. Mo-lo-kyc. 

O-a-hu. O-ah-hoo. 

Kau-ai. Kow-eye. 

MISSIONARY STATIONS. 

Ho-no-lu-lii. Ho-no-loo-loo. 

Wai-me-a. Wye-may-ah. 

La-hai-na. Lah-hye-nah. 

Kai-Iu-a. Kyc-lu-ah. 

Wai-a-ke-a. Wye-ah-kay-ali. 

NAMES OF PERSONS. 

Ke-o-pu-o-la-ni. Kay-o-poo-o-lah-nee. 

Li-lio-Li-ho. Lee-ho-Lee-ho. 

Ka-u-mu-a-li-i. Kah-oo-moo-ak-lee-ce. 

Ho-a-pi-li. Ho-ah-pee-lee. 

Ka-pi-o-la-ni. Kah-pee-o-lah-nee. 

Ku-a-ki-ni. Koo-ah-kee-nee. 

Po-ki. Po-kee. 

Wa-hi-ne-pi-o. Wak-hee-nay-pee-o, 

Pu-a-a-i-ki. Poo-ah-ah-ee-kec. 

Ka-ina-kau. Kak-mah-kow. 

Ka-lai-o-pu. Kay-lye-o-poo. 

Pau-a-hi. Pow-ak-hee. 

Ke-kau-o-no-hi. Ke-kow-o-no-hee. 

It only remains to meet an argument of our adversaries which 
has been put forth by one of them with an air of anticipated 
triumph. " Sir William Jones's Plan," they say, " has been well 
known for these sixty years and yet it has made no sensible pro- 
gress;" from which they conclude, that it never will make any. 
To this we reply, that God mocks at the short sighted sagacity of 
mankind by sometimes bringing to nought their best devised 
schemes, and at other times he vindicates his own authority and pro- 
claims to the world that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of 
men, by bringing about mighty changes by means apparently the 
most inadequate, and at times the most unexpected. The use of 
gunpowder was confined to fire-works, and Steam power was treat- 
ed as a plaything long before these great elements took their pro- 
per place in the system of human affairs : but, to pass over minor 



1G0 

instances, was not Christianity, the system which is destined to bring 
back the world to its obedience to the Lord of the universe, and to 
make it that abode of purity and peace and unalloyed felicity 
which it was originally intended to be — was not this glorious re- 
velation confined for about 1500 years within the narrow limits of 
the Holy Land until Christ appeared on earth and commanded his 
followers to make it known to all mankind ? 

There is no lack of scourges and blessings in the storehouse of 
God, and things can be turned by him in his own good time and 
way to uses of which we can at present form no conception. Is it 
not conformable with our experience of the rules under which the 
divine government of the world is carried on, that the Christian 
Philosopher who consecrated his learning to the glory of his God 
and the good of his fellow-creatures — that the Christian Scholar 
who did not hesitate to make the following solemn declaration, 
which will be recorded to the latest posterity ; " I have regularly 
" and attentively read the Holy Scriptures; and am of opinion, 
" that this volume, independently of its divine origin, contains 
" more sublimity and beauty, more pure morality, more important 
" history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be 
" collected from all other books, in whatever age or language they 
" may have been composed," that such a man should be blest in 
the work of his hands, and that the seed sown by him should in 
God's own time spring forth and cast its shoots far and wide 
throughout the East? Let who will gainsay it, Sir Wm. Jones 
has laid a good foundation, and future ages will bless him as the 
father of the literature of the Eastern Hemisphere. " Cast thy 
grain before the waters,* and thou shalt see it after many days." 

To descend to secondary causes, why has Sir Wm. Jones's sys- 
tem heretofore not made greater progress? Simply because no 
body ever thought of making it a popular system. Where is the 
Primer, the Spelling Book, the Grammar, or the Vocabulary 
which was ever published on this plan with a view to popular edu- 

* Alluding to the method of sowing in the East. 



161 



cation ? The utmost which its advocates have hitherto aimed at 
has been to fix it as the medium of scientific nomenclature, and in 
this they have fully succeeded. That it has not gone further is 
not the fault of the system, but of its admirers, who till lately ne- 
ver once attempted to extend it beyond these limits. As far as it 
has been tried, it has completely answered every expectation that 
was entertained of it, which is no small praise, and gives us promise 
of continued successful results. The system has completely ob- 
tained the acquiescence of the learned all over the world, and, if 
we mistake not, it will in the course of a few generations obtain 
the assent of the vulgar also. 

On the other hand, Why has Gilchrist's system made the pro- 
gress it has ? Simply because he wrote and taught and published. 
What is his system except his books and lectures ? Without these 
it could have no existence. It is a remarkable fact, that Gil- 
christ's plan has never made any spontaneous progress, and we 
never heard of a single school except his own in which it is taught, 
or of a single book that was ever printed in it except by him. 
From this it would appear that it has no inherent virtue, no self- 
operating principle, calculated to secure for it success independent 
of the exertions of the founder. It will apparently live and die 
with him. It has met with just that degree of success which 
might have been expected from the determined perseverance of its 
author, and from his personal and official influence, and it has not 
gone a step beyond this. The Doctor himself is its moving prin- 
ciple. Let him relax his efforts, and it is nothing. 

But what a different picture does Sir Wm. Jones's system at 
this moment present ? After having completely stood the test of 
learned criticism — after having gone through a probationary period 
of sixty years, and approved itself to the great body of scientific 
men throughout the world, it has been claimed for popular use. 
The jewel must no longer remain shut up in the casket, but must 
be brought forth to shine in the face of day. The money must no 
longer remain hoarded in the treasury. The time has come to 
spend it for the general advantage. The gold needs no assay. It 

u 



162 



has been well and thoroughly tried, and all that is required is to 
put it into circulation. 

Three Printing' Presses, of which one enjoys a more extensive 
business than any other in Calcutta, and another is the most influ- 
ential of the Provincial Presses, are at this moment actively en- 
gaged in preparing Picture Alphabets, Primers, Spelling Books, 
Readers, Dictionaries and Grammars, and two Lithographic 
Presses are employed in providing writing Copies and Pictorial 
Illustrations. Daily assurances of support are received from all 
parts of India. Numerous public officers and almost all the 
leaders in the education of the country are on our side, and if we 
make the same progress during the ensuing three months, which 
we have done for the last three, the system will become so firmly 
established that nothing less than a violent persecution will be 
able to uproot it. 

C. E. T. 
21th August, 1834, 



THE END. 



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